The Element of Time
by rasEnshur1KEn
Summary: After witnessing the death of the one he called his brother and losing everything to the Juubi, Naruto is given a chance to return to the day it started. Will he and his new ally change things, or will some new enemies ruin what chance that he has? NaruHina, some SasuSaku other pairings later. Good Sasuke! OCs. Timetravel. Rinnegan Naruto starting on the 41st chapter.
1. Prologue: Enter Felix Yoshoryuu

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story.**

**A/N: This is my first fan fiction so I am happy to accept any advice and/or criticism. This will be a time travel fic with a powerful (though not god-like) OC (I got some inspiration from Third Fang's Yet Again With a Little Help, it's a good, though rather long story). This OC will be on par with Madara, make no mistake, but won't be strong enough to beat him, at least not without a serious struggle. The initial point in time will be a little after the events of Chapter 629 with a time skip to cover Sasuke's arrival. Hope you enjoy!**

**Prologue: Enter Felix Yoshoryuu**

The battlefield slowly came back into focus as Naruto came to. The last thing he remembered was a Bijuu Bomb from the Jyuubi coming straight at him with no time to dodge and no hope of survival until someone came out of nowhere with some kind of aura and shielded him from the worst of the blast, which clearly still had enough power to cause him to be knocked out for a bit. He looked up with bleary eyes and his heart stopped as the raven-haired body came into focus.

"Sasuke!" he cried out as he staggered forward, not even really caring what Sasuke was doing there or when he had arrived. He kneeled next to his old friend/foe and took in the damage to his body. It was extensive to a point where not even Tsunade would have been able to save him, despite the aura that Naruto now realized was the Susanoo. Denying the evidence before his eyes Naruto forcefully shook him, shouting, "Sasuke, get up!"

Sasuke groaned as his eyes opened and he looked at Naruto. "Hey there Dobe," he managed to say before he suddenly hacked up blood, some of it hitting Naruto in the face. Naruto ignored this as Sasuke groaned and said, "Damn, it looks like…" he coughed again. "I'm not going to get a chance to fight."

"Sasuke… what are you doing here? And why the hell did you save me you idiot!?"

"How *cough* *cough* should I know? Just like that time before *cough* a lifetime ago… my body just moved on its own. There was *cough* no time to think…" Sasuke then coughed more violently than before, a copious amount of blood flying out. Again Naruto ignored the blood spit that hit his face. Sasuke's pulse began to slow.

"Sasuke! No, you can't die, it wasn't supposed to be like this! I was supposed to save you!"

"Dobe, it really is too late this time." Sasuke managed to wheeze. "Don't you dare let my sacrifice be in vain. Beat the bastard who toyed with *cough* *cough**cough* Itachi. Don't let his will and the village perish like they are some worthless afterthoughts…"

"Sasuke, I promise you that I will find a way to win this fight… even if it kills me."

"I'll hold you to*cough* *cough* …that. Just don't become bent on revenge…it will only blind you, just like it did to me."

"Since when did you get to lecture me on revenge? You're the one who blundered down that road in the first place."

"Guess you're right on that," Sasuke said as he managed a small smile. "I guess that you were always *cough* a better shinobi than I was. It was always your guts that drove you on, while I could not see a thing beyond my own hatred. Do not even think of losing sight of who you are." He looked at Naruto one more time and held his hand to Naruto, his index and middle fingers extended. Realizing Sasuke's intent, Naruto hooked those fingers in his own, forming the reconciliation seal. This lasted for a full three seconds before Sasuke's hand slipped from Naruto's and hit the ground as the light fled from Sasuke's eyes.

Tears stained Naruto's face as he looked at the body of the one he had called his brother. Rain began to fall. _"It's like the heavens themselves are crying"_ Naruto mused as he looked in the distance, where he saw that the Jyuubi had somehow been driven somewhat far from Naruto's position and was engaged in a struggle against several large wooden dragons. _"Where did they come from?" _Naruto thought, recognizing them as what Madara had used against him and Kurama, but why would they fight the Jyuubi? He noted that the Allied Shinobi Army was also attacking the Jyuubi with everything they had, though they were less than a third their original size and slowing down. "Crap! What am I still doing here? I gotta go help them now!" He dashed towards the battlefield as fast as he could in his exhausted state, sparing one more sad glance at his best friend's body.

**"For what it is worth Naruto, I am deeply sorry that your friend died like that, especially after all you did to prevent this from occurring." **

Naruto sighed at Kurama's words and muttered, "Yeah, I know." He paused to pilfer a corpse on the path and was able to find a food pill.

"Blast it!" Hiruzen Sarotobi cursed as he dodged another blow from Madara's Susanoo and launched a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it, cast several hand signs in quick succession calling out: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Said kunai replicated into over 300 copies and they all slammed into the Susanoo, each one exploding violently, but having no effect on Madara's defense. The entire battle had gone thus, being totally one-sided with his and Tobirama Senju's best efforts failing to even faze Madara. Tobirama, Sarotobi's former sensei, had already fallen to a strange jutsu of Madara's, one that allowed him to rip Tobirama's soul from his Edo Tensei body after grasping his head, causing it to crumble into ashes and leaving behind the Zetsu clone's corpse. It was no doubt a technique from the Rinnegan that Madara possessed. Hiruzen could not let Madara get close enough to do the same to him. It was only because he was also resurrected by the same technique that he was still fighting, for he had already received several blows that would have been otherwise fatal. He had to avoid another such hit, for even though he would regenerate from the damage, it would give Madara an opening to finish the fight.

Hashirama Senju growled with the effort of using three of his wooden dragons, but he knew he needed to keep the brunt of the Jyuubi's attention on him rather than on the Allied Shinobi Army, at least until they were able to wear the beast down enough to either seal or finish off somehow. Three was practically a bare minimum for the task against such a powerful enemy, and even that was only partially successful because said army was still taking a beating. He grunted as the dragon he was riding took a particularly brutal hit from one of the ten tails.

"It's finally the end for you, Orochimaru," Obito declared as he yanked the soul out of the screaming Sannin and quickly avoided Minato's Rasengan. "Stay dead this time."

"I truly had high hopes for you, Obito," Minato Namikaze declared with a glare in his darkened eyes. "Was the pain of losing Rin truly that bad that you gave up on what you have held dear?"

"That was only the start, sensei. It was the realization of how sickening this shinobi world truly is that caused me to wake up. Now I can help create a world of peace with the Eye of the Moon."

"A peace that won't be real." Minato retorted as he ducked a blow from Obito's chain.

"Here's a revelation for you sensei." Obito declared throwing shuriken at Minato who Hiraishined to a seal he had managed to put on Obito with another Rasengan ready. It merely phased through as Obito shouted "Reality is not worth living in!"

_"I was too late to strike,"_ Minatocursed mentally as Obito swiftly turned around and went to grab Minato's head. He would have succeeded if a shuriken made of chakra didn't come from nowhere and strike him while he was still solid. He cried out in agony as the blow carried him several feed before the shuriken expanded, effectively shredding the last Uchiha.

"Dad, where did you come from?" Naruto asked Minato as he landed next to his father, unable to believe what he was seeing. Here was his father, alive and well right before him!

"Naruto, you're all right! I thought you were killed along with Sasuke!" Minato declared, as he and Naruto embraced, overjoyed. "To answer your question, Sasuke and Orochimaru somehow released me and the other three Hokages from the Shinigami and Orochimaru used Edo Tensei with some of those Zetsu clones to bring us back. Sasuke asked a few questions of us and he made a decision to honor his brother's wishes and we came to help in the battle. We arrived in time to see you about to be killed and Sasuke… well you know what he did." Minato finished sadly.

_"So you were still the same person I called my friend deep down Sasuke… I just wish you could have survived as well…" _Naruto thought. "We need to help the others now," he said as he managed to snap out of his funk.

"You are right son, we'll catch up later. Now let's-" He got no further as an ominous figure appeared behind him.

Hashirama was finally starting to make some headway against the Jyuubi. Several shinobi in the army were able to get under the beast and their most powerful jutsu were able to divert its attention long enough for Hashirama to use his three dragons to try to pin it. He was unable to capitalize on it however, because he felt a hand grab the back of his head. His last thought before Madara pulled out his soul was that Tobirama and Hiruzen must have failed.

As the reanimated corpse dissolved, Madara looked almost sadly at the Hokage who was once his friend. "Goodbye Hashirama." Then Madara turned his attention to Obito's location. There was no need to worry about the army. Without the support of the now fading wood dragons, the Jyuubi would finish them easily.

"How the hell are you not dead!?" Naruto yelled in despair as he watched his father "die". " I hit you dead on with my Rasenshuriken, and you don't have a scratch!"

Obito chuckled as his Rinnegan eye closed.

**"The bastard must have used the Izanagi!"** Kurama shouted in indignation. ** "It basically allows the user to alter reality in exchange for an eye such as the Sharingan and apparently the Rinnegan serves as well! He just made it as though your attack never hit him!"**

Naruto cursed as he entered Sage Mode and prepared to fight. That's when Madara showed up.

"Give up Naruto Uzumaki," he said. "You cannot hope to defeat me, let alone both of us. Your friends are even now being destroyed by the Jyuubi. You have lost."

"Shut up! I will not dishonor the sacrifices my friends have made to get us this far! And it's not over yet, no matter how bad the odds! Give up on trying to make me give up!"

Before either Madara or Obito could respond, a voice seemingly from thin air declared, "Well spoken gaki!" Then the very air next to Naruto seemingly broke as if it were glass and from this hole in the fabric of reality, a figure stepped next to Naruto. He was a tall man, just over 6 feet, with a rather lean but well muscled frame. He couldn't have been older than his late twenties at most. He had slightly tan skin and his dark green hair was rather spiky on his head though the part he had grown about halfway down his back was somehow smooth. He had no facial hair and his face was a little thin though far from gaunt. His bright yellow, almost like molten gold eyes stared down Madara and Obito with a piercing gaze. On the back of his right hand was the tattoo of a sapphire blue dragon. The straight sword he held in said hand was about four feet long in the blade and had ten linked circles etched along its length. The two circles closest to the hilt were glowing with a green aura, while the two next to those had a yellow aura, though not as bright as the green ones. Then there were two blue ones, then two brown ones, finally ending with a dull glowing red nearest to the tip. "But I don't suppose you want help."

"Who are you?" Madara asked, his Susanoo flaring to life.

"Oh, you can call me Felix Yoshoryuu (Elemental Dragon). I come from the Elder Dimension, just like the Jyuubi. I suppose it was you who revived it?"

"The Elder Dimension? Never mind, it does not matter. All that matters is that if you get in our way, I will show you no mercy."

"Yeah whatever," Felix said as he swung his blade at Madara, releasing a lightning-wrapped wind slash at Madara faster than the eye could follow. It was stopped by the Susanoo momentarily, but Madara was still forced to dodge before it breached the defense. The attack kept going and struck a large boulder and sliced cleanly through without slowing and was soon out of sight.

Madara landed and looked at Felix with some interest now along with Obito while Naruto was flat out gaping at him. "Wow," Felix said. "I have rarely seen my signature move, the Thundering Gale Slice avoided before even if it was slowed, which is also quite a feat."

"Obito, you take care of Naruto, while I deal with the Yoshoryuu character." Madara said, clearly excited at the prospect of battling someone who could fight him.

"Separate one on one battles is it?" Felix asked, pointing his sword at Madara. "I'm game." He then rushed his opponent who quickly jumped to high ground and launched a large fireball at Felix. Felix didn't even slow as he launched a slash of water this time at Madara, splitting the fireball. Madara dodged the water slash before using wood style coils to try surrounding and crushing his opponent. Felix responded by breathing fire at the coils in front of him and dashing through the ashes before the rest could close in on him, then he jumped in time to avoid the black flames of the Amaterasu and quickly raised his sword to block one of Madara's Susanoo blades. The force of the blow blasted Felix into the ground, causing him to sport a few cuts, though he quickly recovered and was able to roll away from the other blade, before rising in time to leap away from more wood coils and launched some stone spears at Madara as he landed.

_"He can use all 5 elements?" _Madara thought now truly impressed as the stone spears impacted the Susanoo with minimal results. However, those were mere diversions from the Thundering Gale Slice Felix sent at him. This time Madara lost his arm, though it quickly regenerated. Madara responded by creating another wood dragon.

"Huh, a dragon made of wood eh?" Felix asked before stabbing his blade into the ground and conjuring all five elemental chakras and forming a large dragon of his own, the body made of earth, the legs of water, the tail of fire, the wings of lightning, and the head of wind. This beast was as large as Madara's wood dragon.

"This will be exciting," Madara commented with an evil grin.

"Who is your ally exactly, Naruto?" Obito asked as Naruto avoided another attempt to drag him into Obito's space. The dragons were clashing with titanic force and both Naruto and Obito were in some awe of the spectacle.

"Beats me," Naruto replied as he dispelled one of his shadow clones to restore his Sage Mode before it ran out. Sage Mode was his best weapon against Obito, as it allowed him to tell were Obito was teleporting to as well as giving him the needed speed to avoid the attacks. He was down to one clone to gather the needed energy now, so he needed to finish the fight quickly. So far all he and Obito had managed on one another were a few small cuts. "This is my first time meeting him, so I don't have a clue who he is."

"I see. Then that means you have no idea what the Elder Dimension he mentioned was."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Naruto said simply as he and Obito rushed each other again.

Madara was having a little bit of trouble. Trying to avoid Felix's attacks was proving quite challenging, for Felix was very fast, to the point were the Sharingan was almost a requisite for tracking him, and he had already demonstrated the power to penetrate the Susanoo and had even cut Madara's gunbai, almost in half when Madara had tried to block that sword with it.

However, Felix was also having problems. Unlike Madara, his body was not reanimated, so he did not have the regeneration factor or the endurance that came with it. That said, he had been hit with a few of Madara's weaker attacks and had the cuts, bruises and burns to testify. He also had a large slash across his chest from narrowly avoiding death from one of Madara's Susanoo blades. And he didn't even want to think about the moment he was almost hit with the Amaterasu either. He would have to seal Madara and soon.

He rushed his opponent again, launching one of his wind and lightning slashes and quickly dashing to were Madara had dodged to. He used his sword to bypass the Susanoo and ducked under Madara's quick swing of his gunbai. For a moment, they traded blows before Felix was able to kick Madara to the ground, pin him and cast a few hand signs and shout "Elemental Dragon's Separation Sealing!" He slapped his hand on Madara's chest. This was a special seal made to separate all five elements that were in the intended target and bind them to the world's natural elemental energy, effectively spreading the target's being to the world's collective being.

Before Felix could finish however, Madara was able to knock Felix off of him and tried to use Amaterasu again. Felix dodged, cursing. Just one more second and he would have won! His musings were cut off as he heard the Jyuubi roar and head for them.

"Well, it looks like the Jyuubi has finished swatting all those flies," Madara commented to the seething Felix. Even if he still could beat Madara, he had no chance with the rapidly approaching Jyuubi. He was down to one option, and he needed a resident of this world for it to work. His eyes fell upon Naruto and he dashed for him.

Naruto was preparing a Rasenshuriken when Felix appeared next to him with no warning, grabbed him and shouted, "Elemental space Manipulation!" Then things went white for Naruto as he and Felix disappeared from the battlefield.

Naruto groaned as he slowly regained consciousness, then he bolted upward frantically as he remembered what transpired. His gaze fell on Felix, who was panting very hard and fast.

"What the hell!?" Naruto shouted at Felix. "Take us back right now! I still have to help my friends."

"That is redundant gaki. The Jyuubi killed all of them." Felix said coldly. "We can't win anymore, and even if we did, there's not much left to save."

Naruto froze at the revelation and despair overtook him. First Neji, then Sasuke, and now everyone else precious to him. Shikimaru, Choji, Sakura, Sai, Ino, Kiba…so many others and especially Hinata. All dead. Gone. It was too much as Naruto broke into tears and sank to his knees.

"There is still something you can do though, something that can fix things." Naruto looked at Felix as he conjured a large scroll and unfurled it. "This seal will let you go back in time."

"What?" Naruto asked hardly daring to believe it. "How is that possible, and how far back?"

"It's a complicated seal that requires someone from the home dimension to activate, at least effectively. And you go back to the day you were born."

"So I can save my parents that day?" Naruto asked.

"No, you're bound to this world's time, meaning if I turned it back one year, you'd physically be one year younger. So you'll only be a baby. However, I'm not from this world, so turning back this one's time won't de-age me so I can help you with that."

"What do I do?" Naruto asked.

"Place your hand on the seal and pour some chakra into it. Your tenant should still have a little bit, so you should have enough."

"Wait, how do you know about that?"

"I took the liberty of viewing your memories while you were out. No more talking, Madara and Obito could find us at any minute. Hurry!"

Naruto nodded and placed his hand on the seal. "Guess this is goodbye Kurama, since you'll be in my mother's seal again."

**"It was a pleasure knowing you Naruto."**

Naruto sighed as the time seal activated and things went white again.

**A/N: So how was the prologue? There will be more on Felix in later chapters pertaining to who exactly he is, where he came from and why is he in Naruto's world. As for events pertaining to Naruto himself, he and Sasuke will be on a team again, however there will be a poll on whether Sakura or Hinata will be with them. Vote via reviews. They will also have a different Jonin instructor. Just for fun, whoever submits a correct guess as to who with their vote will have their vote count triple. So please review!**

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	2. Chapter 1: Rules of Time Travel

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: So now things have returned to day it all began. There will be some spoilers and I won't describe every fight in canon unless I made adaptations. If you want to see or read those fights, that's what anime and manga are for. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: Rules of Time Travel**

Felix knew he had to move fast. When Naruto turned time back to the day he was born, Felix was still in the same place he had transported them, meaning he had to use the same technique to get to Konohagakure and fast. He wanted to show up at the delivery area right then and there and kill Madara/Obito, but there were constraints that involved the time traveling thing that kept him from going up against anyone or anything that the person who had turned this world's time back had fought with. This meant that whether he liked it or not, he had to let the enemy extract Kurama from Kushina. He also would be unable to seal Kurama into Naruto, because Naruto had fought said Bijuu, and said Bijuu would not remember until he was part of Naruto again. However, he could still save Minato and Kushina. He would just need a little help from a certain old man, though he knew Naruto would not like the end result.

…...

"Step away from the Jinchuriki, Yondaime, or else your son's first minute will be his last," Obito demanded, holding the newborn Naruto in a threatening manner.

_"Where the hell is Felix?!"_ Naruto thought furiously as Minato tried to ask the masked man to calm down._ "He was supposed to do something about this!"_

"Speak for yourself Yondaime," Obito said, tossing Naruto up and drawing a kunai. "I am quite calm!" He declared as he proceeded to stab Naruto in midair, only for Minato to flash by and rescue him from being skewered. "Your name as the Yellow Flash of Konoha is well deserved, but what about my contingency?"

It was then Minato realized that the masked man had put exploding tags on Naruto's bundle. He cursed as he tore it free and flashed away from the explosion.

They found themselves in a clearing with a small wood fragment embedded in Minato's leg as he thanked his lucky stars Naruto was alright. As he prepared to go try to save Kushina, Naruto thought angrily, _"You better not let that bastard kill my mother Felix…"_

….

Hiruzen Sarotobi got a surprise when the green haired man showed up out of nowhere and knocked out his ANBU guards before they even knew he was there. "Who are you?" he asked as he prepared for a fight.

"A friend," the man responded, dashing forward and grabbing the old man's head before he could react and started forcing memories into his mind. "Sorry about this, this will cause a bit of a headache, but it is quicker than just trying to explain, and time is of the essence."

Sarotobi could only groan in reply as the memories of things that had yet to pass rushed through his mind.

….

Naruto was somewhat relieved when Minato showed up with Kushina, but upon realizing that she no longer had Kurama inside of her he was pissed off. _"What the hell is that jerk Felix doing?!" _ he thought as Minato prepared to defend the village.

…...

A recovered Hiruzen was demanding answers as to what was going on and what the deal with those memories that never happened was.

"So let me get this straight," he sighed as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Minato's and Kushina's son turned time back to this point after the future went to hell, and I was dead before then?"

"That's the thick of it yes." Felix responded. "And you had better help reduce the casualties of the Kyuubi's attack right about now. I know that it is a difficult thing to ask for you to trust me, especially considering what I am asking of you, but there is little time to persuade you, so I can only give you my word that this is the best shot we have at rewriting the future. What do you say?"

Sarotobi thought for a few seconds as he prepared his battle gear to fight the Kyuubi. It was a far-fetched story to be sure, but it did seem that this Felix was on the up and up. He also knew that there was not much time to make a decision. So he decided to throw the dice. "Alright then. I will trust you and do my part."

"Good. Now get going and don't get yourself killed yet. I will come get you when it is time for your part in this."

….

"Are you Uchiha Madara?" Minato asked as the masked man lowered his hood. "But he is supposed to be dead, so you can't be him."

"Hmm, I wonder about that," the masked man mused, preparing his chains.

"Not that it's important whether you are Madara or not. But why do you want to use the Kyuubi to attack Konoha?"

"Well, I guess you could say…that it is both a whim and a plan… for both war and peace."

"Well, whoever you are, and whatever your goals, I will not let you destroy the leaf village!" They dashed at each other, and the ensuing battle was somewhat short, ending when Minato used a Rasengan on the masked man's back, followed by stabbing him with a kunai and using a contract seal to remove the Kyuubi from his control.

As Madara backed off and teleported away, he declared, "I am impressed that you have managed to wound me, and delay my plans. It is no wonder that you are the Yondaime. But know this, the world will be mine someday. I have plenty of backup plans and many means at my disposal."

Once he was gone, Minato could not shake the ominous feeling that the masked man was not lying.

…..

As Hiruzen was preparing the shinobi under his command for another attempt to drive the Kyuubi further out of the village, Minato showed up and used the Hiraishin to teleport the beast away before it could launch one of its Bijuu Bombs. _"Just like before if those memories are really true" _he mused. _"So that means that Felix character was telling the truth." _

His thoughts were interrupted by the Bijuu Bomb explosion in the distance and Felix showed up. "It's time to get going," he said gravely as Hiruzen nodded.

"Who are you?" one of the nearby ANBU demanded, causing Felix to mutter something about that question getting rather old.

"Stand down, I have reason to believe that he is an ally of ours," Hiruzen commanded. The ANBU complied, albeit reluctantly. "Let's go." And with that, they dashed off in the direction of the Kyuubi's location.

Upon reaching the barrier Minato set up, Felix quickly cut through it with his blade, earning astounded stares from the accompanying shinobi. "Hurry!" he said to Hiruzen as they dashed to the place where sealing would take place, Felix leading the way.

….

Naruto could only watch in horror as he watched his father prepare the Reaper Death Seal. Before Minato could cast the final hand sign however, Naruto's hopes were restored as a familiar green haired man dashed up to Minato from behind and knocked him out with a quick chop to the back of his head. Before Kushina could say anything, Felix shouted, "Keep the Kyuubi at bay lady! We'll take care of the rest!"

As he said this, Hiruzen came up next to him and started to cast hand signs. _"What is Jiji doing here?" _ Naruto momentarily wondered before his eyes widened as comprehension set in. _"No, he can't be!" _His suspicions were confirmed as Hiruzen cast the final hand sign, and the Shinigami roared to life behind him. He had to do something, but his body was too small and helpless.

"I'm sorry about this, Kushina, but sealing the Kyuubi inside of Naruto is truly for the best," Hiruzen said, gazing at her with a sad look in his eye that took all argurment out of said red head. He turned his gaze to the Kyuubi then and the Shinigami reached through his chest to the beast. As Kurama cursed, half of his being was then ripped from him and sealed within Sarotobi.

"Tighten the chains now!" Felix shouted to Kushina before Kurama could take advantage of his smaller size. She complied as Hiruzen quickly set up the altar.

"Forgive me, Minato, Kushina and Naruto," Hiruzen asked before shouting "Eight Trigrams Seal!" With a final roar, Kurama felt himself being pulled into Naruto, cursing all the while. Then it was over.

….

Naruto found himself once again within his mindscape as the seal resolved itself. Dimly he noted that he was in his 17 year old body again, though that was due to his real mental age. He looked up as the ever familiar cage manifested and a particularly loud demon fox with it. "DAMN IT ALL!" Kurama roared before a sudden jolt in his mind occurred. He growled at the agonizing pain in his head as his forgotten memories began to reassert themselves.

"What's wrong Kurama?" Naruto asked, only to be ignored.

"He is going to be out of it for a little bit, Gaki," Felix said as he appeared within the mindscape to Naruto's shock. "He did not remember all that happened between the two of you initially, but now that he is a part of your mind again, they will be coming back to him." Then he doubled over as Naruto socked him in the gut. Hard.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why did you let Obito release Kurama from my mother? And why did you make Jiji sacrifice himself?"

Felix regained his composure and responded, "Look, Gaki, I am sorry I had to resort to that, but it had to be done. There are laws in the Elder Dimension that were put into that time travel scroll, and one of the big ones is that no being from the Elder Dimension is allowed to tinker a large amount with the timeline in question. One of the restrictions to avoid messing it up too much is that I am not allowed to fight against anyone the person who turned the timeline back had fought. So it was a no go for me to stop Obito for you, since you fought him. I also could not be the one to seal Kurama back into you since you had fought him as well when you made your bid for his power. If the beings of the Elder Dimension went around solving everyone's problems for them, no one in those other dimensions would be able to do anything for themselves!

"If I had tried to break the rules, and trust me, I wanted to, then my life would be forfeit and the jutsu that brought us back would have been undone, making this trip for nothing. I did not want to sacrifice someone else like the Sandaime, but it was him or your parents. He made the choice entirely of his own free will. I did not force him. So I am sorry, but it was the best option available to us."

Naruto sank to his knees in despair. He had just gotten back, and already one of the people he had hoped to save from the horrors of the time he had witnessed was gone. Was the future really written in stone? Would this happen to everyone else he hoped to prevent the deaths of?

"Don't give up yet Naruto," Felix said with a sympathetic tone to his voice. "We have already managed to save your parents, even if it was trading their lives for the Sandaime's. He would not have wanted you to let that trade-off be in vain, now would he? You did not come back to this time to just allow everyone you care for to die sooner did you?"

"No, I guess not," Naruto said as he wiped away his tears. He could not let this unexpected turn bring him to his knees. "Though I wish you would have let me know what your plans had been beforehand."

"First of all, there was too little time before we came back. For all we know, one of the Jyuubi's Bijuu Bombs could have already been on its way to destroy us. I could not take that chance. Secondly, would you have gone through with it if I had?"

"I would not have liked it," Naruto admitted.

**"If you two are done with this conversation, I think that it is time for us to make plans for the next few years." **Kurama interjected having recovered from reclaiming his memories.

"Hey Fuzzbutt, are you feeling better yet?" Naruto asked, glad to see his old friend again.

**"Fuzzbutt?!" **Kurama sputtered as Felix laughed at the nick-name. **"Gaki, you had better open this cage now before you make me any more cranky."**

"Yeah all right," Naruto said as he complied, letting Kurama out. "So Felix, what is our next move?"

"First things first, I had better bring your parents into this conversation. This is something we should collaborate on."

….

Minato groaned as he woke up. Who on earth had knocked him out? He looked up and saw Sarotobi lying prone on the ground, surrounded by a few ANBU. Two others were keeping watch over him. As he continued to take in his surroundings, he spotted a ragged Kushina holding Naruto while a green haired man was using Medical Ninjutsu on her. "What happened?" he asked somewhat sluggishly.

"That man tending to the woman knocked you out and lord Sandaime sealed the Kyuubi in your place, lord Yondaime," one of his gaurds, a man in a crocodile mask responded.

"I see," Minato responded as he rose to his feet and went to his wife and son. He took a look at the man who was healing Kushina. He did not know who he was, but it was clear that he was very skilled to have been able to get the jump on Minato like that, even if he was a little preoccupied. He was also very good with the Medical Ninjutsu he was using on Kushina. He noted that the man seemed to somehow be drawing some of the residue chakra from the Kyuubi's attack from the air and streaming it back into her so she could survive without needing the complete being within her. There was a small chance that she would have survived anyway, being an Uzumaki, but this man was clearly taking no chances.

Minato spared a sad glance at his predecessor's body before asking the strange man, "How is she?"

"Quite good actually, all things considered," the man responded. "I have got her mostly stabilized, so we should be out of the woods momentarily. My name is Felix Yoshoryuu, by the way."

Minato nodded in appreciation of Felix's words. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing here, and why did you aid us in the manner you did?"

"I could tell you, once I am finished with the lady, but you might want to dismiss your ANBU guards for this. I am not saying that they are untrustworthy, but what I will be telling you will be most likely an S classed secret, and you should hear it before you deem who else can."

Minato looked at all of the ANBU and nodded. Reluctantly, they left the clearing.

About ten minutes later, Felix announced that he was finished and Kushina sighed and said, "Thanks."

"How do you feel?" Minato asked her a little nervously.

"Like a load of crap that countless idiots unwittingly stepped on," she groaned. "But definitely an improvement over giving birth and having the Fuzzbutt ripped from me." Felix snorted and muttered something about that being where he gets that nicknaming tendency from.

"All right then," Minato replied, taking Naruto from her before turning to Felix. "Now could you please explain all that has been going on?"

"I'm no good at sugar coating things, so I will give it to you straight. Brace yourselves… I am a traveler from the Elder Dimension. I actually came to this dimension about 17 years from now and I had your son there turn time back to this point so that we could change things for the better, because it all went to hell when I came."

Minato and Kushina stared at him for a moment. Then, predictably, they both burst out laughing. "Time traveler," Kushina choked out. "Please don't make me laugh like that, my body is already pissed with me despite your treatment."

Minato sobered up first when he saw that Felix hadn't even twitched. "Wait, you're serious, aren't you?"

"Serious as a heart attack," Felix responded. "And I can back the claim up." He then proceeded to conjure a scroll about the same size as the forbidden one. He unfurled it, revealing the seal and said, "Why don't you take a look-see."

Minato and Kushina shrugged, still sure that this was some kind of joke before they saw the seal. It was so fiendishly complicated that not even Minato or Kushina could make heads or tails of it. The best they could figure was that it was indeed a space/time seal, and a very advanced one at that.

"This is definitely something," Minato said. He glanced up at Felix. "Did you make this?"

"Meh, that one is beyond me despite the fact that my own experience is nothing to sneeze at. That is the work of one of my friends and I took it with me, figuring it would come in handy. But that is not all the proof I have. Place your hands on Naruto there and you will see what I mean."

Numbly, they complied and found themselves in the dark sewer that was Naruto's mindscape, at least as far as his seal was concerned. Felix joined them and beckoned for them to follow him. For about a minute they moved through the winding corridors before they came to the room that held the cage, only the Kyuubi was out of it and was conversing with a blonde that looked almost like a carbon copy of Minato, except for the strangely familiar whisker marks.

Upon noticing the two dumbstruck people in the room, said blonde turned to them and with a wide grin said, "Hey Mom, hey Dad."

**A/N: Cliffhanger! So far I have 3 votes for Hinata and none for Sakura. To answer the questions put to me by ryuujin96 **, **yes you only get one guess, and I won't spill it yet or triple the votes of the correct guessers until final tally time, which will be in a week or two, depending on how fast I get through this. I am glad to already have 4 reviews, I was only expecting no more than 3, and that was if I was lucky. Not only that, but they were positive, no criticism yet, though I do still want ideas on how to improve. Felix won't be able to interfere with the timeline much, due to the restrictions on changing things, so Naruto will still have to win his way to a brighter future, though he'll have a much better shot this time around. Sorry, but I had to have some explanation as to why Felix did not just kill Obito that day and effectively end the story. More on the Elder Dimension next chapter. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 2: The Elder Dimension

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: This is a chapter that will explain what exactly the Elder Dimension is. There will also be a bit more back story as to who Felix Yoshoryuu is. This chapter will start with a little comic relief, hope no one minds. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2: The Elder Dimension**

"Hey Mom, hey Dad."

Those words were the final straw for Minato and Kushina. Already shocked by what had happened so far with the Kyuubi incident that they miraculously survived, the time travel claims, the Kyuubi out of its cage, and now a teenager calling them his parents. So they did the one thing they were still capable of in their current mental state. They fainted.

Felix, Kurama and Naruto all lasted about 3 seconds before they burst out laughing, which was rather impressive considering just how comical it was to see Minato and Kushina foaming at the mouth. "Can't breathe…" Naruto gasped, leaning against the bars of the open cage for support.

**"****I had forgotten just how amusing you humans could be,"** Kurama gasped, on his back and hugging his chest in the hilarity of the situation.

"I really wish we could have a camera in here," Felix wheezed with effort. "This would be blackmail gold right here."

After they had sobered up, Naruto went to try to wake Kushina up first. "Uh, hey Mom, you all right?" Then he shuddered as he felt a large grade of killing intent. Before he could respond to this, Kushina jolted upward, and socked Naruto right in the face, sending him into the wall and making a crater that would make Tsunade jealous.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Kushina demanded as she started to stomp on the soon to be corpse, kicking up an anime style dust cloud. "Do I LOOK old enough to have a son your age? DO I?!"

As Naruto was begging for mercy, both Kurama and Felix were laughing their asses off again. "And this would be blackmail platinum," panted Felix.

**"****Serves you right, Kit." **Kurama gasped.

….

At a bar near the outskirts of the leaf village, a certain blonde lady with a killer bust froze. For some reason, she felt as though her record of delivering the worst beating to an idiotic male was in jeopardy. She wished that Jiraiya was around for the first time in a while, so that she could re-establish dominance. Then her prayers were answered as some stupid drunk tried to cop a feel on her from behind. The resulting screams were heard for miles away. Kami, she loved chakra enhanced strength.

…..

Once Naruto's beating was finished, Felix was able to calm Kushina down (which Naruto angrily noted he took his sweet time in doing) and they were able to bring Minato back to the world of the living. After that, they began to explain how Minato and Kushina both died in the original timeline and that upon the revival of the Jyuubi, they had to resort to time travel. Naruto was quick to explain that he was seventeen in the mindscape due to being from the future, and this being his real mental age.

"Call me crazy, but I actually believe this story," Minato said.

"You are not just crazy, you are bat shit loco," Kushina cracked, earning a laugh from everyone present. "But I believe it too."

"The question now is where we go from here," Minato said. "All we really learned so far is how the world ended up, not how it got there in the first place."

"As to that, I will not give many details yet on each future event," Felix responded. Noticing the confused and indignant looks he was getting, he clarified, "Look at it this way. If we went around changing everything bad, that stupid butterfly effect would basically ruin any plans we may have. If too many things get changed, we will throw the entire timeline out of whack, and the knowledge of what will happen in the future will become worse than useless, because if we plan for one thing, and something entirely different occurs, we are just asking for disaster. As such, the Elder Dimension guidelines state that what we change will be between me and Naruto."

As Minato and Kushina grudgingly nodded at the sense of this, Naruto said curiously, "You know, you are always talking about the Elder Dimension, but I don't know what that is. Come to think of it I was quick to trust you when we were about to turn back time, but I don't even know much about you, or why you were even in our dimension. Care to explain about that?"

"Ah, I am glad you asked. I was wondering when we were gonna get to that." Felix said, rubbing the back of his head. "You all ever hear of the theory that states that there is more than one reality? Well, the Elder Dimension is the very first one to exist, and all others are split off pieces of it. Think of it like a tree, with the Elder Dimension being the trunk, while this one is just a branch. Anyways, the Elder Dimension is easily the most sophisticated and advanced reality. We have mastered several forms of chakra manipulation and jutsu, and have incredibly powerful clans.

"I myself am the head of the Yoshoryuu clan, which has a Kekkei Genkai that allows us to manipulate all five of the elements." He paused as they took that part in, clearly amazed. "As head of that clan I own the blade Elemental Infinity, which I brought with me." He drew the blade and held it out. Minato, Kushina, Naruto and Kurama looked at the blade with interest. It was extremely keen and well crafted, all ten circles that were etched in glowing. It was easily better than the blades of the Seven Swordsmen. Now that Naruto knew its name, he realized that the ten circles were actually five infinity symbols, each one representing an element. "I get the Elemental part of the name," Naruto started, "but why does it have the Infinity part?"

"That would be because it has access to all of the world's elemental chakra, effectively allowing for practically an infinite supply of chakra."

"But then… how did Madara manage to wear you down during that fight?"

While Minato and Kushina started at the name, Felix said, "I said infinite chakra, not infinite durability. I was still hindered by the wounds Madara managed to tag me with. And that was a low blow, bringing that up. For the head of a prominent clan, even by Elder Dimension standards, while wielding one of the Elder Dimension's top three weapons, to be beaten by an upstart from this dimension is just positively embarrassing. Although in my defense, he did have that whole unfair reanimated by the Edo Tensei thing working for him, and I STILL nearly managed to pull a win out of my ass. The fact that I only had one way to beat him like that was a serious handicap against me."

"Madara was reanimated?" Minato asked. "So the masked man is not him? Or did he die between now and then?"

"Madara actually is dead right now, though the masked man is affiliated with him and operates under his name with permission."

"Do you know the masked man's identity?"

"I do, but I am not going to tell you. It would do no good and could do you a lot of bad. Trust me, for now at least, you are better off not knowing."

Minato looked as though he was going to argue, but thought better of it.

"Anyhow," Felix continued. "One distinction of my clan is that while we have the ability to use all five elements, we still have greater affinities with some elements than others. Not all members of my clan have green hair. We are born with the hair color representing our strongest element, green for wind, red for fire, yellow for lightning, brown for earth, and blue for water. I am a green head, so wind is my main element."

"Me too!" Naruto exclaimed proudly.

"Our second place element is shown by our eye color. You can see that I am yellow eyed so I have a strong affinity for lightning. While we have no more body signs at birth after that, we developed a special ink that takes on the color of our middle element when used for tattoos." He showed them the blue dragon tattoo on the back of his right hand. "So you can see that my middle element is water. The other two are represented by articles of our clothing, usually of our choice." He pinched the fabric of his dark brown slacks. "Earth is next, and that leaves fire as my weakest, though it is still quite potent." He finished as he tugged at the sleeveless red vest that left his arms bare.

"I am guessing the order also shows itself for the wielder of your sword in the form of what colors the infinity symbols glow in, right?" Naruto asked.

"Ah yes! Good eye, Gaki."

"Don't call me Gaki! I am 17!"

"Mentally, yes, but you have the body of a newborn now," Felix retorted as Minato, Kushina and Kurama snorted. "But yes, the infinity symbols do glow in the order of the affinities of the current wielder, starting with the strongest, that one glowing with the brightest light and at the infinity symbol nearest to the hilt. Obviously, the weakest one glows dimly near the tip. Another thing about the sword is that only someone who can use all five elements at least to a certain extent can use this sword effectively, otherwise the elements that the user can't use will cause their own elemental chakra to become so unstable to the point where it could be fatal.

"Now to answer the question as to why I was here in the first place, while the Elder Dimension's inhabitants try to keep their nose out of the business of other worlds, we do try to clean up our messes. Long ago, the Jyuubi was the bane of the Elder Dimension itself. In those times, we were able to drive it out of the Elder Dimension and into this one. Many of the higher ups back then thought that they should leave it at that, but one of the best of us, who you call the Rikudou Sennin these days was concerned for the people of this dimension, and you already know how he handled the Jyuubi."

**"****So that means that I am in a way from your Elder Dimension," **Kurama rumbled.

"That is correct, Kurama, albeit in an indirect way. Of course, there was controversy in the Elder Dimension as to whether the Rikudou Sennin was a hero or a traitor. These days, he is viewed as the former, though his actions back then resulted in his exile. Today, we try to follow his example and solve problems for other dimensions if they originated from ours. There are always power hungry bastards, even from our realm, and there is no shortage of those who leave the Elder Dimension to try to subjugate weaker worlds. So we try to keep them from doing too much damage. As a result, when the Jyuubi was revived and I was notified I ended up traveling here. So now here I am, stuck here for the next 17 years."

"Eh, why is that?" Naruto asked.

"Gaki, there is a reason I consider time travel to be a last resort. There are a lot of complications and obey-under-penalty-of-instant-death-rules that make it even more of a pain to utilize. One such rule is that I can't leave the dimension that had its reset button hit until we get to the point where time was turned back in the first place. This rule was made to keep the person who turned time back in the first place from messing up, by ensuring an Elder Dimension denizen could keep an eye on them. My friends will probably come to see what is taking me so damn long to get back."

"But wait, didn't we turn time back? So when we get to the point where you can leave again, it will still be a point where you were only briefly gone."

"Doesn't work like that. We only turned back time in this dimension. Picture two spools side by side, each representing the present time of a world. The strings of both are unwound as time passes, the strings representing the past of those worlds. Turning back time, or rewinding a string, does not affect the other spool's string, and both spools are still side by side, allowing travel between the two. In other words, in the Elder Dimension, it is even now in the exact state of time it was before we turned this universe's time back. Savvy?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"I have a question," Minato piped up. "Two actually. First, why were you sent to deal with an opponent as strong as the Jyuubi by yourself in the first place?"

"That is a good question. You see, even though we of the Elder Dimension try to clean up messes originating from our home, we still try to avoid sticking our noses in too far in the affairs of other worlds. As such, one of the dumber rules was that only one knight (that's our name for fighters in the Elder Dimension instead of your local shinobi,) is usually sent per enemy we have to fight from our home. Since the Jyuubi, powerful as it is, was only one foe, and all others are local to this dimension, they sent a one man army: me. Although I still think they could have made an exception to the stinking rule, considering just what I was up against. Even someone like me going up against the Jyuubi, well, it is like asking me to try slaying a dragon armed with nothing but a pin and no chakra use."

"I think Mom might manage that, if said dragon was dumb enough to make a comment on her age or maybe her weight," Naruto joked dryly, causing everyone present to burst out laughing.

"I don't… ha ha… think she'd…ha… need the pin…ha ha ha… if it came to that," Minato managed to heave while clutching his sides.

"You are damn… ha ha ha ha… right I wouldn't," Kushina practically gasped as everyone laughed harder.

After about a minute, when they were sober, Felix asked, "You mentioned a second question, Minato?"

"Ah yes," Minato replied. "Just why are you and Naruto telling me and Kushina all this, when you are not going to let the two of us change things?"

"I never said I would not let you change things. I merely said that what we changed will be at the discretion of Naruto and I. Not only that, but we need someone in a high place to help keep these things as low key as possible. Who better than the Yondaime and his wife, on top of them being the parents of the time traveler, adding to their trustworthiness? Also, it is important for you to have at least the gist of things as they come up, so questions are not asked when we need you change something for us."

"I see. So that means that we are in on the loop, but on a need to know basis, is that it?"

"Bingo."

Minato sighed. "I have gotten too used to being in a position to be the one withholding information, being Yondaime and all. Now it sucks to be on the receiving end."

Felix chuckled before saying, "Now that that is out of the way, it is time to plan for what we need to do in the present. Once we get out of here, I am going to need a cover story. You can tell everyone that I am one of the last surviving members of a clan that kept our existence secret, which can be why no one else has heard of it before today. I will be offering my services to your village as one of your shinobi, though you will have to be careful what assignments you give me, so I don't create too many butterflies, or break one of the time travel rules, yada yada."

Minato nodded in acknowledgement. "All right, I guess that it is time for us to go back to reality then?"

"You got it."

….

Once they were all back out of the mindscape (minus Kurama of course), and were heading back to the leaf, accompanied by the ANBU, Felix whispered into Minato's ear, "I know that it is disconcerting to have a baby with the mental age 17, even if he is immature. My advice to you is to just treat him like the kid he physically is. Kami knows, he deserves to have a decent childhood this time around, and it will be too funny to watch his protests too pass up."

Minato only chuckled in response.

…

Obito was furious. The blasted Yondaime had delayed his plans by breaking his control of the Kyuubi, and now he and his former Jinchuriki of a wife actually survived the attack when a green haired stranger and that old Sandaime foiled his hopes that they would die in the attack at least, making it easier to plan his next moves. Zetsu was wisely keeping his distance from his infuriated boss.

Obito's brooding was interrupted when the air seemed to crack, and pieces fell causing what seemed to be a rift in reality. 5 people stepped from this tear to stand before a shocked Obito and Zetsu, 4 of them standing behind the one in the lead, who was covered in head to toe in plate armor colored in the darkest black Obito had ever seen, with the other 4 wearing simple black hooded cloaks that obscured all of their features. The only body feature in sight from this group was the jet black hair that flowed out of the back of the lead person's helmet to the back of his knees.

Obito got up and demanded, "Who are you people, and what are you doing here?" That was before he was hit by the lead man's aura, which projected a very high level of killing intent, one that intimidated even the Uchiha, who staggered back after quickly recognizing the fact that this was definitely not a person to tick off if you were fond of breathing.

"I am Raizen Genshukuayatsuri (Gravity Manipulation), and these four are my underlings." The armored man replied. "Individual introductions for them can come later. As for what we are doing here, we hail from the Elder Dimension and I have a proposition for you."

Needless to say, Obito found his interest piqued.

**A/N: There you go, now we have some more players from the Elder Dimension, and they are clearly here for reasons that cannot be good. I apologize if my OC clan names are a bit off, I do not deny that my translations may be rough at best, and I am not 100% sure I even got some of the right words off of the internet. **

**Currently I have 5 votes for Hinata and 1 for Sakura. I have noted that 2 of my reviewers have submitted votes but no guesses as to the Jonin Instuctor. I will keep an eye out for any more reviews from Firefly in the Mist and naruto9001believeit in case you two decide to submit guesses later.**

**I would also like to extend a thank-you to one of my reviewers, which I meant to do last chapter but somehow forgot. Firefly in the Mist, you were the first one to review my first story, and the review was very encouraging, so thanks a lot for that.**

**I am also accepting ideas on what the abilities of Raizen's underlings are going to be, as long as they are halfway decent and obviously don't outdo the abilities you might expect from gravity manipulation.**

**So that is Chapter 2, I hope you enjoyed it, so please review, vote and submit good guesses as to who will instruct Team 7. See you all later!**


	4. Chapter 3: Catching up to the Future

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: This chapter will cover the first few years of Naruto's physical growth and Felix's assimilation into the village. It will also get to another event that Naruto will decide to change. I am also hiding a small clue to something in the chapter. Read and enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Catching up to the Future.**

Obito thought hard on what had just occurred. The armored man that had led the strange group had told him a very interesting story about how the Elder Dimension was, as the name implied, the oldest one in existence, and that the Jyuubi and the Rikudou Sennin both originated from said dimension. Raizen had then claimed that the Rikudou Sennin was the last bearer of the Elder Dimension's prize dojutsu, the Rinnegan, and deliberately split its power in two among his descendants to keep it from returning to the Elder Dimension, due to him having lost faith in its governing system.

Raizen then proceeded to explain that he was aware that Madara had been able to reunite the two halves of the power, and implanted them into a boy named Nagato. Then he offered to aid Obito and the organization he was going to build over the next few years in reviving the Jyuubi, and using its power for the Eye of the Moon plan. It did not take Obito much effort to figure out what Raizen wanted in return.

"You want the Rinnegan," he had stated rather than asked. Raizen had laughed and said that Obito was correct, though he would wait until after the Eye of the Moon was complete to take his payment, but he would expect a good faith payment as soon as Obito was finished with one of his "side projects", which Obito quickly recognized as an implication that Raizen also knew that he was helping to stoke the Uchihas into a revolt, and wanted Obito to provide him with Sharingan, once a few of the clan had been killed and would no longer need their eyes.

Obito had spent little time deliberating. The offer was good, for he would no longer need the Rinnegan once the genjutsu had been cast, and he was sure he could easily spare two Sharingan once the revolt had taken place, for whether or not the Uchiha won or not, there was bound to be at least a few casualties among them. If by some chance that did not occur, he could always terminate a few himself.

As for what he would get in return, it was quite obvious from the aura Raizen gave off that he would be a powerful ally, one he definitely did not want as an enemy. So he had agreed.

Now he was thinking about the deal he had just struck. It seemed too good to be true, and unfortunately, that usually meant that it was. That Raizen was extremely shady, and Obito was sure that he was after something else entirely, and planned on using him for it. But Raizen was too powerful for Obito to really have a hope of going up against so he would have to wait until the Akatsuki was formed and make sure he had loyal and powerful followers before he could VERY CAREFULLY plot against his new ally.

….

"I'm certain he suspects, Lord Raizen," one of the cloaked men said to his armored master. "It is clear that he is no fool, and it is easy to deduce that you could easily take the Rinnegan yourself easily."

"Yes, but the last thing we want is to tip off the higher-ups in the Elder Dimension that we are here, and that the Genshukuayatsuri clan still has a surviving member." Raizen replied. "If there is anything that would provoke a large reaction from them, it is the power we hold. They would send more knights than even I could handle." He laughed and continued, "So for now, we operate with and through our new pawns, discreetly gathering the pieces we need until we have our real prize within reach."

….

Minato was relieved as his paperwork neared its end. It had been two months since Kurama had attacked the village under the influence of his amnesia and the masked man. It was still a little hard to swallow the idea that he and Naruto had befriended each other, though he and Kushina both considered that to be somewhat small news compared to the whole time travel thing. The funeral service for all those who perished fighting the fox, with Hiruzen Sarotobi being one of the most mourned, had been held a week after the attack. There were many who broke the shinobi rule of not shedding tears, but Minato did not blame them at all. It was a very heavy blow to the spirits of the village.

A few days after that, the village council had finally managed to drag him into a meeting to discuss Naruto's fate. Minato and Kushina had by then revealed that they had been secretly married, and that Naruto was their son, but that did not stop several members of the civilian council and Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha clan from wanting the "demon brat" killed. Fugaku was greatly angered by the Kyuubi's attack due to the accusations from many of the villagers against his clan that emerged from the rumors that an Uchiha had controlled the nine tailed beast and he wanted the recompense and revenge. The members of the civilian council were just plain scared idiots that could not distinguish between a jail and the prisoner (though Kurama did not seem to mind so much anymore, not that anyone else had to know that). Danzo Shimura, backed by Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, was determined to enlist the boy into his ROOT program and turn him into an emotionless weapon (this was only further motivation for Minato to keep the fact that Naruto and Kurama were on good terms under wraps, as if he needed it. If that got out, Danzo would become more determined, seeing even greater promise in using Naruto as a tool of war).

Fortunately for Minato, he was able to gain the collective support of Hiashi Hyuuga , Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Tsume Inuzuka, and ShibiAburame and keep custody of his son. Further arguments were quickly put down when Kushina started to get irritated, scaring the crap out of the idiots, er, the council.

Minato then made it law that no one was to discuss the Kyuubi, for several reasons. Among them was the fact that he knew that Naruto would be a target of those who wanted to bring back the Jyuubi, and he wanted to prevent them from making any early moves. Secondly, this would hopefully give Naruto a chance to have friends growing up this time around, since the parents of children would not be allowed to tell their children why they wanted them to stay away from Naruto, and hopefully Naruto's status as the son of the Yondaime would help cancel any negative feelings the parents gave their children, giving them a chance to judge Naruto for who he is. Finally, this measure had been taken in the previous timeline, and it was imperative to keep things as close as possible to that timeline, so that this one could maintain a measure of predictability. Minato stressed that the breaking of this law was punishable by lifelong incarceration, or even death. Protests naturally abounded at this, only to be silenced by Kushina threatening to be the one to carry out the latter penalty if they argued.

The topic then moved to Felix Yoshoryuu. Minato told the council an obscure and believable story that the man was a previous acquaintance of Hiruzen and had been in town when the Kyuubi attacked. Felix had agreed to help Hiruzen seal the Kyuubi in Minato's place, which was obviously successful by the fact that Minato was the one alive now. The council was pleased that Felix had decided to stay on as an elite jonin and they were quite intrigued with his Kekkei Genkai. There was talk of trying to marry off Felix, so they could establish the new clan, but Minato told them flat out that Felix had no interest in doing so. Felix had told the group earlier that he was already married and had two kids he had left behind. He expressed great sorrow that he would not be able to be there for them as they grew up over the next 17 years, something Naruto knew the Minato of the original timeline could easily relate to.

Other than that, there were few problems with allowing Felix to settle in the leaf village, though Danzo brought up the question as to whether Felix could be trusted or not. Minato responded by saying that Felix had already rendered a great service to Konohagakure, and it had been clear that Hiruzen had trusted Felix to help him seal the Kyuubi and prevent Minato from being the one to sacrifice himself (though that was Felix's plan, but again, the council did not need to know that). He also brought up the fact that Felix had given expert care to Kushina, and for that, Minato was fully prepared to trust the man.

With that the meeting had ended, but the headache was very persistent. And every time he had almost cured it, the next wave of paperwork would only bring it back full force. But now he was just finishing the final stack, and it was about time too. He was getting very close to the point where he would simply flash it all to an obscure place to burn later, flash back and deny that it had ever existed, but he knew Kushina would kill him if she had ever found out that he had to resort to such measures to skip out on his duties like that, and he knew she was more than capable of doing so now that she was fully recovered. She was not called the Bloody Habanero for nothing. Or Tomato either when she was a kid, but he would never say that, even if he was sure she wasn't around. He was too fond of his internal organs and his skin to take such a stupid risk.

He sighed in relief as he set the final sheet aside, when there was a knock at his door and his blood froze. _"No, please Kami, no!"_

His worst fears were confirmed as two of his secretaries came in, both struggling under stacks of paper that would probably be taller than them if set down. Face palming to hide his anime tears, he said, "Thanks you two, why don't you take the rest of the day off." What happened next was the last straw for his nerves.

"Thank you Yondaime-sama, but it is going to take at least two or three more trips to bring the rest in before we can go."

….

Felix was in the midst of doing a few chakra control drills at a training ground a few miles away from the Yondaime's office when his eardrums just about popped at the agonized cry of "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY MEEEEEEEEEEEE?!"

Turning in the direction of the cry, Felix chuckled, "Apparently the paperwork for a kage is a level of torture that even that Anko lady would have problems replicating."

….

Naruto, while sad that the Sandaime had sacrificed himself to seal Kurama in him again, was actually glad to at least have the friend and comrade he thought he wouldn't see again initially. Upon hearing this, Kurama merely chortled, **"I guess that you are still stuck with me for life Kit. Tough luck for you."**

"And you are stuck with me as well Kurama," Naruto grinned.

Kurama froze at this. **"Crap, when you put it like that, I guess I am not really in a position to laugh at your misfortune. It's rather clear that you got the better end of the deal."**

They shared a good laugh at that. Naruto was especially glad to have Kurama still with him due to his 17 year old mind stuck in his rather tiny and helpless two month old body. At least he had decent company to pass the time.

And it was passing slowly indeed. He wanted ramen as always, but he was stuck drinking nothing but milk until his teeth grew back in. You'd think that time travelers from the Elder Dimension would have invented a decent ramen flavored milk just for cases like this, but Felix had laughed at him and said he was on his own for that. Jerk. Naruto was also unable to walk, meaning he had to put up with the rather crappy (pun intended) diapers, rather than simply go to the bathroom. He couldn't even talk. If he wanted to have a conversation with someone other than Kurama, he had to bring them into his mindscape, but with his parents and Felix being the only ones available, his options were limited.

Not only that, but Felix was always busy with training and getting acquainted with everyone in the village, and his parents were still rather nervous around Kurama. Not that he could blame them, and Kurama just found it rather amusing, but the next few months were going to be very long indeed.

….

It was finally Naruto's first birthday and his parents were throwing a party for him, something he was not quite used to. He was really looking forward to seeing many of the people he cared about for the "first" time. Jiraiya was the first to arrive, though that was due to him being dragged there by his hair by a very irritated Felix, who had caught him doing his "research", thus resulting in Felix kicking the crap out of said pervert (it was a shame Kushina and Felix were both married, because she was in love). Apparently, Felix had a great deal of respect for the privacy rights of women, and made it quite clear how embarrassed he was for his own gender. Naruto thought it was hilarious that Jiraiya got his ass kicked by a guy with strong principals this time for his peeping, instead of the usual pissed kunoichi. Felix probably did him a favor, when he thought about it.

As Jiraiya finally recovered, he started doing his best to embarrass his "little tyke" of a godson, though Naruto did not mind. He was too glad to have a shot at saving the man who had helped shape him into the person he was now. "_This time, Ero-Sennin, I will make sure that the final outcome of what happened with Nagato will be different, and I REFUSE to let you die this time."_

Kakashi was next to show, a little before the party started, causing Naruto to try dispelling a an obvious genjutsu, but apparently Kushina had threatened Kakashi, saying that if he was not on time for her son's "special day" she would remind him exactly why she was the only person that Minato feared, and would use his Icha Icha books for the resulting "funeral pyre". That was clearly enough to encourage Kakashi to show up a little early for once. Naruto remembered the last time he had seen Kakashi in his time, as Obito had pulled him into that dimension of his. Naruto did not know for sure if his sensei had perished at the hands of his former comrade, but Naruto swore to himself that he would make sure Kakashi survived for sure this time around.

While there were other guests, the next that had an impact on Naruto was Hizashi with his son Neji. Apparently, Hizashi had been a friend of Naruto's father back when they were genin. As Neji and Naruto were introduced, Naruto thought about the events of Neji's death.

_Flashback_

_Naruto was on his knees, unable to avoid the Jyuubi's stakes in time, only able to watch as Hinata came between him and the attack, ready to lay her life down for him without so much as a thought, only for Neji to come between __**her **__and the attack, getting impaled in places that not even Tsunade would have been able to heal, even if she was present. Trying to deny the evidence before his eyes, Naruto supported his mortally wounded friend and comrade, and shouted, "We need a friggin' medic!"_

_"No," Neji wheezed. "It's… too late."_

_"Neji…"_

_Neji coughed, as Hinata said sadly, "Brother…"_

_"…Hinata-sama is…willing to die for you, Naruto…" Neji stated with conviction. "So keep in mind…that your life… is not your own… anymore… It also…includes…mine now…as well…"_

_With Hinata shedding tears next to them Naruto desperately asked, "Why…not in a place like this…! You're the Hyuuga's..." Neji seemed lost in contemplation when Naruto continued with tears in his eyes, "Why would you go this far for me!? Sacrificing your life…"_

_With a final smile on his face Neji replied, "Because…I was called a genius..." And so the mark on his forehead finally faded as he died, having freely chosen his death. _

_"I thought you wouldn't let me kill a single one of your comrades?" Obito mocked from on top of the Jyuubi's head. "Naruto."_

_End Flashback_

Naruto had almost broken then and there. He was unresponsive to his surroundings, with Obito's words that his views were naïve and there was nothing left for him but suffering in this world. Had it gone any further, Naruto's psyche would have almost certainly snapped. But then Hinata had slapped him, bringing him back to reality and with her declaration that it was Naruto's principles that Neji had died for, and with some further pushing from Kurama reminding him what his parents had sacrificed themselves for, Naruto was able to reemerge from the darkness.

Now Neji was here in front of Naruto, and Naruto was damned if he was going to allow this second chance to go to waste. Neji was NOT going to die this time, not if Naruto had anything to say about it. And now that he thought about it, there was also something else that Naruto could change for Neji…

As Hizashi and Minato caught up a little, Naruto recognized that the man was quite warm towards the Namikaze family, even him and Kushina. It did make sense when Naruto thought about it. After all, the Branch House Members were quite aware of what having a seal placed on them against their will was like, so being able to relate to Jinchuriki was quite natural.

Unfortunately, Kushina's close friend Mikoto was unable to come, do to Fugaku's hatred of the Kyuubi, and by extension Naruto. Ever since the Kyuubi attack, the villagers had been getting more and more hostile to the Uchiha clan because of their suspicions of the clan, despite the best efforts of Minato to keep the situation from coming to a head. The absence of Mikoto did not stop Naruto from thinking about Sasuke and Itachi. That was probably the most important thing he had to change. _"If you weren't forced to slaughter your entire clan Itachi," "Then Sasuke would never have gone down the path of hatred. You could have helped him get strong without him losing sight of who he was, and you would probably have been able to help keep the future from going to hell like it did. This time, I will make sure that this is the case. The Massacre will have a different result this time, I swear it."_

The party was actually rather uneventful except for when Felix and Kushina both pummeled Jiriaya and Kakashi without mercy when they were discussing inappropriate content from the Icha Icha series where Naruto and Neji could hear them, much to Naruto's amusement. Naruto was glad to have presents this birthday, instead of having to run for his life from drunk mobs on this particular day. Sure, most of them were little kid toys, but it was easily an improvement over what he had in his previous life.

….

A couple more years had passed, Naruto's third birthday had come and gone and Felix was dealing with a massive headache. After a day of the training exercises Minato and Kushina had finally begun running him through in recognition of the fact that he would need to be as strong as possible for the coming storm, despite their wanting him to just be able to enjoy his childhood, he had come to Felix asking if they could change an event. The previous day Hiashi had stopped by, extending an invitation to the Namikaze family to attend the heiress Hinata's third birthday party, while coincidentally, a delegation from Kumogakure was coming to the Leaf to sign a treaty on the same day, meaning Minato would have to show up later.

Naruto and Felix both knew what was going to transpire. The ninja from Cloud would attempt to kidnap Hinata, resulting in Hiashi killing him, and causing further hostilities between the two shinobi nations. Kumo would demand Hiashi's corpse in recompense for Konoha's "violation of the treaty", so they could get their hands on the Byakugan. The Hyuuga clan would then sacrifice Neji's father to keep the dojutsu from Kumo, while seeming to appease the latter. However, if the Kumo ninja could be caught alive this time, and if they could get him to confess his goals, Konoha would be able to call bullshit on Komo's claims and demands.

The problem was that while Felix did want to do this, he had to consider all possible changes that might screw up any plans they had. The butterfly effect was just one of the many things that made time travel such a major pain in the ass. Seemingly harmless changes now could have serious repercussions further down the line. This was one of the reasons that time travel was so rarely resorted to, and no one has had to for over half a century, something he was being constantly reminded about when he finally managed to establish some communications with the Elder Dimension. His friends were never going to let him hear the end of it, and he was NOT looking forward to his wife getting her hands on him in about 14 years. She was going to be so ticked about him being gone for so long.

Despite Felix's doubts about what could ultimately happen, he eventually agreed to save Neji's father, because Naruto was adamant on doing something to repay the dept he owed the Neji from the future. So, stating that any negative consequences were on Naruto's head, Felix went to have a chat with Minato.

….

On the day of Hinata's birthday, Naruto and Kushina were among the first to arrive. Naruto noticed many dirty glares from the Main family towards him and his mother, though they were quick to hide this when she looked their way. Naruto grinned. It seemed even the stoic Hyuuga were scared of the Bloody Habanero. The Branch House members on the other hand showed a great deal of respect. This served to further increase Naruto's determination to become Hokage and change the ways of the clan.

Eventually, Naruto spotted Hinata and froze. Just like Kakashi, he was not sure as to what her final fate had been before he turned back time, though it was extremely likely that she had perished fighting the Jyuubi. As Naruto watched her hide behind her father, he contemplated what had happened to bring them so close in the past. Back then, it was his determination to see the bright side of life despite the brutal treatment he had received at the hands of the village that she had been attracted to in the past. She had tried so hard to be like him, despite her chronic shyness and never let anyone else affect her view of Naruto. She had always been able to see him for who he was, and he felt stupid for never noticing her attraction to him. He had remained in the dark about it due to this obliviousness, and it had taken an invasion of an extremely powerful foe to get her to confess her feelings for him followed by her almost dying for him to realize his feelings for her.

He would not make that mistake again. If he was fortunate enough for her to fall for him again, he would not let it go to waste. He walked up to her and tried to strike up a conversation, but as expected, she was too shy even at this point to make much progress. Naruto was disappointed, but hopefully he would eventually manage to bring back her feelings for him.

….

It was about a week later when Minato and Felix entered the Hyuuga compound. Minato had managed to arrange a meeting to discuss village business for this particular night. While Minato and Hiashi went over some of the redundant documents, Minato grumbling all the while about wondering how the village could still possibly have trees, Felix acted like his legs were kinking up and got permission to stroll through the grounds, accompanied by a branch member named Ko, who also happened to be Hinata's caretaker. As planned, they "happened upon" the Kumo nin as he was making his getaway. Felix moved fast, dashing by the kidnapper, and taking Hinata from him as he went. As the man realized he was caught, he pulled a kunai and engaged Ko.

"Don't kill him!" Felix shouted out as he set Hinata down. "I want to know who he's working for!"

For a moment, the Kumo nin and Ko were engaged in a taijutsu battle, before the former was able to break away from the fight and rushed towards Felix and Hinata, intent on reclaiming his prize. With a swift motion, he launched three shuriken at Felix, who, rather than dodge, swept his left hand in front of him, fingers splayed. In that same motion, he caught the first shuriken between his index and middle fingers, the second in his middle and ring fingers and the final one between his ring finger and pinkie, before he reversed the motion and threw the stars right back at their owner before he realized what happened. All three weapons hit him dead on, all in non-vital spots, causing him to stagger back and giving Ko the opportunity he needed to close in and shut down several of his tenketsu. Defeated, the Kumo nin slumped unconscious.

About ten seconds later, Hiashi and Minato rushed to the scene to investigate what the commotion was. "What is the meaning of this?!" Hiashi demanded as he took in the unconscious masked man and his daughter lying on the ground, the latter now awake and seeming terrified of the situation.

"Lord Hiashi!" Ko responded. "We ran into this man as he was trying to leave the grounds with Lady Hinata over his shoulder. Our guest Felix and I were able to apprehend him without any problems, and Lady Hinata is unharmed."

"I see," Hiashi replied as he knelt and unmasked the man.

"That's… the Kumo nin I just signed the treaty with a week ago!" Minato stated, faking shock.

"Well, he clearly has some explaining to do," Felix said.

….

Negotiations with Kumo actually went smoothly from there since they had proof of Kumo's treachery and the Cloud was unable to justify any demands for the Byakugan. Needless to say, Minato, Felix and Naruto were quite pleased with themselves and how things went. _"Now Neji won't have to grow up with his burden alone," _ Naruto thought with a smile.

**A/N: My apologies if this chapter seems a bit rushed and sloppy, but I was trying to cover a lot of ground in one go. **

**I am quite amazed at the reviews that I have already managed to accumulate, and so far they all seem positive. Thanks a lot you guys!**

**Next chapter I post will feature an all out spar between Minato and Felix. Place your bets now, because I have decided to award those who bet on the victor with an extra guess as to who the Jonin instructor will be. You have until I post the chapter tomorrow. **

**I am also issuing a fan art challenge of my OC's, particularly Felix and Raizen. This will be open for a couple months and you are allowed to either use computer animation or you can use more physical tools and upload a photo of the result to the internet. The winner will get to create an OC for me to use in the story, as long as the OC is not game changing. All credit will go to the creator of course!**

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 4: A Mighty Spar

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I hope you all have placed your bets, because the fact that this chapter has been posted means that option is no longer available. So it will be Minato vs Felix, the Yellow Flash against the Master of All Elements. Who will emerge victorious? Also, Naruto will finally enter the academy again and meet Sasuke for the "first" time.**

**Chapter 4: A Mighty Spar, Then Back to the Acadamy**

"So tell me what we are doing here again?" Minato asked Felix as they, Kushina and a nearly five year old Naruto headed into the basement of the rather large compound Felix now owned. "That pile of paperwork at my desk won't get any smaller while we're here. Honestly, I do not even know why we bother with shinobi anymore. All we have to do to defeat our enemies would be to throw those massive piles at them, and they would not stand a chance."

"Oh, for Kami's sake!" Felix said. "Why don't you stop complaining about all that paperwork, it's getting irritating. Honestly, is there some sort of rule against using Shadow Clones, or is there really that much paperwork that even that does not work?"

Minato froze. "Wait… what?"

"DAMN IT FELIX!" Naruto yelled. "I was gonna sell him that secret!"

Felix gaped at Minato while Kushina was laughing her ass off. "You mean to tell me…" he said incredulously. "That you never thought of that?"

"I. Am. So. Stupid." Minato said as he wept anime tears. "You just spared me from so much future suffering."

Felix sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Astounding that one of the world's smartest shinobi could miss something so glaringly obvious."

"Ah ha, you're right about that," Minato said before he frowned and turned to Naruto. "Am I to understand that you knew the secret all this time, and you just let me muddle on because you were busy trying to figure out how much you could make OFF OF MY PAIN?"

"Uh oh…" Naruto said as he spotted the frenzied look in his father's eyes that he usually saw in his mother's. "I am so screwed."

"Anyway," Felix quickly intervened before the enraged Minato could finish strangling his son with Kushina trying to calm him down (wow, a backwards situation. That paperwork must have really done a number on Minato's sanity). "I brought you three here to show you a little something I was working on over the past few years." He opened a door to show a pure white plain room that somehow seemed to be much larger than the space it was supposed to occupy. "This here is what I like to call an All-Out Sparring Room, or AOS Room, because it is a distortion in the space-time continuum, and everything that happens in here is erased from said continuum once certain criteria are met."

"And this is important why?" Minato asked.

"Because it will allow for any level of sparring, with no repercussions. Even if one of us actually kills the other, there will be no harm done, because once the spar is over, we will find ourselves right back out here without a scratch, unless of course you had it before entering the room. This means we can cut loose a little, and practice our most dangerous techniques against an actual foe. And yes, one of the features is that we actually remember what occurs after the fact. It took me the past four years to finally get the blasted thing right, and I actually had to call in for some assistance on more than one occasion from home. I might have dabbled in this sort of thing once or twice, but it is far from my area of expertise."

Naruto, Minato and Kushina were now very interested in the possibilities the room had to offer. While it would not help them with the more physical aspect of their training, because any physical strain would be erased, it would certainly be of aid in coming up with strategies against dangerous enemies and safely settling disputes as to who is a stronger fighter. Kushina also harbored the rather wicked notion that she could drag anyone who ticked her off into the room and kill them slowly. Over and over and over again…Mwa ha ha ha…

...

Near the bathhouses in Konaha, a certain white-haired pervert suddenly shivered. "Why do I get the feeling that I should be a lot more careful around Kushina than usual now?" he asked while weeping anime tears.

….

"Not to question your work or anything," Minato asked. "But is the room always white and empty like that? I mean it is not going to be very useful if…"

"Of course not!" Felix declared. "All I have to do is concentrate before entering the room on an environment, and the room will imitate it!" As he said that, the room actually did shift to show the forest on the outskirts of Konoha. "Anyway, I brought you guys here because I wanted to ask you Minato, if you were interested in helping me break this room in tomorrow. And yes, summoning do work, so you will have all your tricks up your sleeve available."

"Is that a challenge? Because if it is, I accept!"

"Excellent! Same time, same place tomorrow then?"

"You got it!"

….

The next day, Naruto and Kushina were following the two combatants into the room. Naruto was excited at the prospect of watching his father and the person who helped him so much already duke it out with no holds barred. The field currently resembled a meadow with a thin amount of trees surrounding it. Both combatants walked to opposite ends of said meadow and stared each other down.

"On three!" Kushina shouted, having been selected to start the match. "1…2…3! Fight!"

Minato wasted no time in throwing one of his Hiraishin kunai at Felix, who dodged and drew Elemental Infinity, launching one of his signature Thundering Gale Slices at Minato with the same movement. Minato was able to dodge it, only to find that Felix had instantly closed the distance between them, and swung his sword at Minato's head, forcing the latter to Hiraishin to his previously thrown kunai. It was then he realized that the same slash he had just narrowly avoided was used to launch another of those bothersome slices right in his direction, with no hope of dodging in time. That's what Felix thought anyway.

The instant before the slice hit him, Minato smirked and Hiraishined again. Felix's eyes widened as he realized that Minato must have slapped one of his seals on him before he had flashed to the kunai to avoid the slash. Sure enough, Minato appeared right next to him, a fully charged Rasengan in hand.

"Blast!" Felix cursed as he jumped back, the Rasengan grazing his chest a little and shredding the front of his red leather vest, before it was slammed into the ground.

Minato rose and looked at his opponent, who tore off the remains of the vest, the Hiraishin seal with it, leaving his torso bare and said, "You jerk! You have any idea how expensive these are?!"

Minato rolled his eyes, and replied, "Yeah right. Didn't you say that all damage would be repaired once we left?"

Felix grinned sheepishly. "All right you got me, I was just giving you a hard time." They shared a laugh at this before Minato drew some more kunai, and threw them in some random directions.

_"He moves at about the same speed as a taijutsu specialist with 7 celestial gates open,"_ Minato mused as he did this._ "While my speed is nothing to sneeze at either, I am going to have to abuse the hell out of Hiraishin if I hope to remain untouched, and make sure I have plenty of options to go to, so he doesn't send one of those slices to greet me next time."_

_"Man, those Rasengans are potent attacks," _Felix thought._ "I was just barely nicked by that one, and it tore through the reinforced leather like it was nothing, as well as peeling a good layer of skin off my chest. I can NOT allow a direct hit against me, or I will be taken out in a heartbeat."_

They dashed at each other again, only for them to both veer off to opposite sides, Minato casting fast hand signs. "Wind Style: Multiple Air Bullets!"

As the name implied, several small balls of air emerged from Minato's mouth to go at high speeds in Felix's general direction. However, Felix simply cast several one-handed signs with his left hand. "Fire Style: Giant Flame Dragon Lance!"

Minato's eyes widened as Felix breathed out a massive amount of fire in the shape of a dragon, each air bullet hitting it only increasing its size as it sped towards Minato, forcing him to Hiriashin to a position he had set up behind Felix's current area to throw a kunai at his back. Felix dodged of course, only to have to again when Minato Hiraishined to the thrown kunai's location, catch it and throw it again. This process repeated itself several times until Felix just dodged once and quickly slashed where he knew Minato would appear. The attack caught Minato off guard and he was diced across the chest. The smile was wiped from Felix's face when Minato disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Crap," he said as the real Minato appeared with another Rasengan. This time Felix got it a bit in the side, though he was once again able to dodge the worst of it. He quickly swiped down at Minato, who was unable to dodge or Hiraishin again on time, so he resorted to quickly striking the side of Elemental Infinity with the still charged Rasengan, causing the sword's elemental energies to flood the Rasengan **(A/N: I don't think it takes a genius to figure out where**.

The resulting blast when the sphere exploded nailed both Minato and Felix, launching them back away from each other, sporting several cuts and burns as a result, though Minato got a little more damage due to the fact that the said bomb was in his hand at the time, plus he slammed painfully into a rock, while Felix was lucky enough to simply skid a little on the ground.

"Maaaaaaaan, that smarts," Felix said getting up gingerly as Minato followed suit. "Clearly the Rasengan mixed with elemental energy the wrong way results in a lot of pain for everyone present."

"Tell me about it," Minato grinned. "I have been trying to upgrade the silly thing by adding elemental chakra for years, but all it's gotten me so far was multiple trips to the hospital."

"I don't doubt that. When did you make that Shadow Clone anyway?"

"When I launched those air bullets earlier, I knew that you were most likely going to respond with a large scale fire technique. Fire might be your weakest element, but I knew that you would not hesitate to use it if you were up against the element it beat. I figured that when you did use it, there was a good shot at it being large enough to obscure your view of me, at least for a moment. That's when I quickly made the Shadow Clone, and we Hiraishined to different locations, the clone following the assault, while I waited to catch you off guard."

"Brilliant, you actually took advantage of one of my own attacks, and you almost had me too."

"Unfortunately, you are just too quick, even when I do surprise you. You're not holding back by any chance, are you?"

"If I was, you would have already beaten me," Felix answered seriously. " You?"

"Likewise," Minato answered with a grin and he pulled out two kunai. They closed the distance again and started exchanging blows. Minato realized that if he tried to block Elemental Infinity with his kunai, the blade would simply shear through it like it was nothing but air, so when he needed to stop it from cutting him, he instead used quick strikes to the side of the blade to divert its path rather than outright stop its progress. This also served to give Minato an opening to try to strike Felix with his other kunai.

"Good call," Felix stated when he noticed what Minato was doing as he sidestepped another jab from the latter's kunai. He proceeded to slam his fist right into Minato's cheek, sending him flying. "But not good enough."

Minato recovered by flipping, and throwing one of the kunai. Felix dodged and Minato Hiraishined to it and parried Felix's quick counterstrike with the other kunai with yet another Rasengan in his free hand. Felix hastily backed off and this time managed to completely avoid the attack, though it was still way too close for comfort.

Felix and Minato stared each other down, both panting with the exertion of keeping up with each other. Felix moved first, stabbing the ground with his sword. "Elemental Style: Dragon Ruler of All Elements!" With a lot of rumbling and elemental energy, the same dragon that Felix had conjured to fight Madara and he wood dragon sprang into existence again.

Minato quickly bit his thumb, cast the hand signs he needed and slapped his palm onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" there was a good deal of smoke as the three gargantuan toads that Naruto recognized as Gamabunta, Gamaken and Gamahiro arrived at the battlefield.

"Oh, it's time for that fight then?" Gamabunta rumbled as he blew a puff of smoke, having been briefed the previous day by Minato about the spar.

"Yes it is," Minato said. "Remember, don't bother with elemental attacks, he will only counter with the opposing element."

"So just weapons and brute force then?" Gamahiro commented. "That sounds like my style."

"I'm not sure I am graceful enough to fight such a foe," Gamaken said a little nervously. "But I shall give it my all."

"Enough talking, he's attacking!" Bunta (**A/N: Yes, I am going to use the shorter version of their names for this, it's easier that way) **shouted as Felix's dragon breathed fire right at them. Initially ignoring Minato's advice on the elemental attacks because he felt that he should at least counter fire style with water style, Bunta shouted "Water Style: Liquid Bullets!"

Two large spheres of water shot out of Bunta's mouth at the approaching fireball. Bunata grinned as they extinguished it, only for his eyes to widen as an earth style attack the dragon had launched behind the fireball overpowered the water spheres. "Told you," Minato face palmed, having wisely moved to Hiro's head before the earthen clod slammed into Bunta.

….

Naruto and Kushina watched in awe as Hiro and Ken engaged the dragon. Hiro's blades dug into the earthen hide of the Elemental beast while Ken slammed his staff into the wind head of the massive creature. Said head merely reformed and fired a blast of water at Ken, charged with lightning, which Ken was quick to avoid, claims of clumsiness be damned. Hiro was also forced to back off to avoid the flaming tail of their opponent. A pissed off Bunta recovered from the recent blow and rejoined the fray, sliding on his back under the beast's belly and kicked his hind legs into the gut of the creature, launching it an impressive distance into the air.

"Dad is amazing to go toe to toe with Felix, isn't he?" Naruto asked his mom.

She chuckled and said "Can I pick them, or can I pick them?"

….

As the elemental dragon sailed through the air, it spread its lightning wings and stabilized itself, actually gaining altitude and hovering above the battlefield with Felix still riding it. "Great," Minato muttered as the dragon rained down some elemental attacks, forcing him and his three summons to do a lot of dodging. "I was hoping that those wings were for show, or maybe some simple offensive purposes. I did not expect the creature to actually fly with those wings." As he said this, he noted that his chakra was already dangerously low and he only had two kunai left. He had to finish this with one fast gamble. "Bunta, I am going to need you to jump as high up as you can," Minato said as he reestablished himself on the toad's head. "I'll take care of the rest."

Bunta obliged, managing to get level in the air with the dragon, so Minato could leap towards it, and launched one of the remaining kunai he had. As it sailed right above the dragon's back, he flashed to it and landed on the earthen part of its body. He rose with his gaze fixed on Felix, who assumed a battle stance. Minato cast a hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four clones sprung into existence with Minato and one of the clones falling behind the other three, where he discreetly traded his last original kunai with the clone's copy. The first three clones charged Felix with the fourth right behind them, while the original Minato charged what would be his final Rasengan. Needless to say, Felix quickly dispatched the first three clones with a blinding display of his skilled kenjutsu, and the fourth managed to graze his arm before also getting cut down.

What Felix was not expecting was for the clone's kunai to remain as the clone popped out of existence and Minato capitalized on this, flashing to said kunai. "Rasengan!" he shouted as he slammed the spiraling sphere straight into Felix's torso, just below the chest. Felix cried out in pain as the blow launched him so far he fell right off his dragon's back, his sword falling from his grasp. The said dragon then fell apart, so Minato also found himself in freefall, too exhausted to do anything about it. Fortunately, Bunta extended his tongue and caught the blonde, while Felix landed limply in the wooded area.

"Well done," Bunta remarked after setting Minato down. Then he and his fellow summons disappeared.

"Looks like I won," Minato panted with a grin, before Felix suddenly appeared behind Minato, and pierced him through his back and out his chest with his wind chakra covered hand.

"Did you now?" Felix asked before coughing up some blood and covering his chest wound with his other hand.

"How… did you… withstand the Rasengan?"

"Right before you hit me, I knew I would not be able to dodge this time. So at the last instant, I focused some wind chakra at the point of impact to take the brunt of the blow. You still did some major damage, but I could still fight."

"Darn… that's more than… you could say for me… I guess I lose." Minato said with a sheepish grin.

….

Outside of the room, Minato and Felix were exchanging some notes about the fight, Minato still amazed that all damage done was really gone, as promised. Then Minato paused as he spotted Kushina, with a pout on her face, hand a grinning Naruto several bills of cash. He looked like a gaping fish for a second as he processed this, before spluttering, "Wait a minute, you two actually bet on our match? And Naruto, you actually bet AGAINST ME?"

"Actually both mom and I both wanted to bet on you," Naruto quickly said with an appeasing gesture. "So we had to draw straws on it. I thought my luck had failed for a little bit to tell you the truth."

Minato face faulted. "Next time, Naruto bets on me," he deadpanned. "That crazy luck of his gave Felix an unfair advantage."

_Flashback_

_"Read em and weep, boys," Kushina laughed as she revealed her full house of three tens and two kings, beating Minato's ace flush. Recently, Kushina thought it would be a good idea to teach Naruto to play poker to teach him a harsh lesson about being careful with betting so he would not become like Tsunade (and hoping to win all of Naruto's allowance back to fuel her next shopping spree and ramen pig-out). So far it was failing miserably, as Naruto had won all three hands they had played so far with a full house of his own, a straight and a three of a kind hand. She and Minato were flabbergasted to say the least, and they were sure he wasn't cheating, they were watching him like hawks._

_"Eh, how much is two pairs worth?" Naruto asked as Minato said a tear full farewell to his remaining cash._

_"Sorry Naruto, but even your dad's hand beats that," Kushina said with malicious glee at finally winning._

_"Oh well," Naruto sighed as he tossed down… four sevens._

_Kushina stared for a minute at the hand with an impressive fish imitation, while Minato sensed the danger and quickly flashed out of the room._

_All of Konoha heard the shriek of "ARRRRRGGGGGHHHH, WHY KAMI WHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY?!"_

_End Flashback_

Needless to say, Minato never gambled with Naruto again, though Kushina just refused to quit, determined to prove that Naruto's luck would run out sooner or later.

….

It was finally Naruto's first day at the academy, and he was not happy about having to attend all the boring classes. He had already remastered most of his abilities, including Sage Mode and the Rasenshuriken, though Kurama told him that he would have to wait for his body to develop a little more before sharing his chakra, since he was sure that Naruto's current six year old state would not be able to handle it yet. Minato was surprised to learn that Naruto was able to complete the Rasengan, though he was disappointed to learn that the completed version was useless without Sage Mode. He made a mental note to make some time for a trip to Mount Myoboku, after letting Naruto sign the Toad Summoning Contract again.

Felix had revealed that he knew a Sage Mode of his own when he told them to take a close look at his eyes, and they noticed that the pupils had become slit. He proceeded to explain that this was what a perfect Sage Mode for those who have a Summoning Contract with the elemental dragons of the Elder Dimension looked like and that it was not so noticeable due to the fact that his eyes were already yellow. This was how he could move so fast. He maintained his Sage Mode in battle by absorbing the nature energy from Elemental Infinity, even while he was moving.

He had then asked Naruto and Minato to teach him the Rasengan, and they agreed that it would be perfect for him because of his ability to potentially mix it with any element that he chose. He scared them a little though, once he mentioned that it would be potentially invincible if he could mix in all five elements at once with an evil grin on his face. Ah the possibilities…

And now Naruto was moving towards the monument to boredom, knowing that the only good he could do there would be befriending everyone he had known last time again. There really wasn't anything important he could learn there anymore, not even academic-wise, for his mom had already made sure to cram all that into his head. But he saw the value of keeping everything the as close as possible to the last time, though he had no intention of being the dead last this time around. Although… he grinned widely. He did pull plenty of pranks in the previous timeline, why not this time around?

As he entered the classroom, he noticed that he was one of the first there. There were only three other people in the room. He spotted the lazy bum Shikamaru in the back row, snoring his life away. Choji was sitting next to him, munching his potato chips so loudly, it was a wonder he didn't wake his friend up.

In one of the middle rows was a particular raven haired boy. Without hesitation, Naruto sat right next to him and said, "Hello, my name's Naruto Uzi- er, Namikaze." Wow, he was still having trouble getting used to that last name.

The raven haired boy looked at him and smiled. "Mine's Sasuke Uchiha," he replied.

….

Later that evening, Sasuke returned to the Uchiha Compound, in a very happy mood. Upon entering his home, Mikoto looked at him and asked, "I take it your first day at the academy was a good one sweetie?"

"It was," Sasuke replied before turning to Itachi. "You were right big brother, I had no problem making a friend."

"Told you so," Itachi replied. "Who is this friend?"

"Naruto Namikaze."

Fugaku, who had been taking a sip of his tea at that moment, choked at this. Upon recovering, he glared at Sasuke and stated, "Sasuke, you are to stay away from that boy. I do not want you to even speak with him anymore."

"What? But why?" The now upset child demanded.

"There is no need for you to know the reason, all that is necessary is for you to do as I say!"

"But-"

"End of discussion!"

"Honey…" Mikoto said flaring some of her killing intent, cutting off Itachi, who looked as though he was going to come to Sasuke's defense. "You don't really think that the couch is a comfortable place to sleep for the next two months, do you?" (**A/N: Let's all have a round of applause for Tensa-Zangetsu102**)

Fugaku paled as what she said sunk in. "You wouldn't make me…"

"Oh, you know I would," Mikoto replied with a deceiving smile. "Sasuke, I support your friendship with Naruto. Your father doesn't really mind, do you honey?"

Fugaku merely sighed and shook his head. Itachi looked at Sasuke and made discreet motion like he was brandishing a whip, earning a chortle from his brother.

...

"You wanted to speak with me, Father?" Itachi asked Fugaku later that night in one of the compound's private chambers.

"Itachi," Fugaku started. "What I am about to tell you is an S class secret that you are to inform no one that I mentioned it to you."

Itachi raised his eyebrow as Fugaku proceeded to tell him about the Kyuubi. At the end of the explanation, he replied tonelessly, "I see."

"That is why I want you to keep a close eye on what occurs between him and Sasuke. If you so much as think that he MIGHT hurt your brother…" Fugaku gazed intently at the older of his two sons. "Take care of it."

**A/N: I hope that Felix fight scene was satisfactory, and gave you a good idea of his abilities. I felt bad for having to restrict Felix's contribution to the fighting due to the fact that Naruto just HAD to go up against almost every decent enemy, so I thought this would be a nice bone to throw you guys. I was trying to go for the extremely powerful OC, but still comparable to the stronger Naruto characters. Was I successful?**

**I also thought I should ask. Should Naruto have a sibling? It won't have any major impact on the story, unless of course there is an epilogue, but I was wondering if anyone was interested in me working that into the background of the story, and giving Naruto something else to protect. Yes, this is another poll, and it is only going to be open for about two days, because I want to put it in soon.**

**Next chapter will cover the Uchiha Incident, and will be titled Wounds Reopened. Anyone care to guess why? Hint: It will have to do with one of Sasuke's actions.**

**So read, guess and vote! And above all, review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Wounds Reopened

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Finally, the Uchiha incident has arrived! What will happen this time?**

**Chapter 5: Wounds Reopened**

It had been about a year since Naruto had befriended Sasuke, and now the two were thick as thieves. Naruto was currently in the running for what Kushina called proudly the "Itazurakage" (Joke Shadow), with Sasuke as an occasional accomplice, to Fugaku's displeasure. Much to Minato's exasperation, Kushina was over the moon with Naruto's first few jokes and practically encouraged him to pull some more. Several of the more memorable jokes were Naruto and Sasuke sneaking into the ANBU headquarters and slipping copious amounts of pepper into the nose area of the masks, them capturing the cat Tora instead of the usual Genin team, only to set him loose in the Inuzuka compound, resulting in a great deal of mayhem, putting a dummy of Jiraiya set to explode on impact with paint when hit outside the kunoichi springs in his "research" position (they accidently got Felix with that one, though he took it well and actually complimented their little trap)and switching their academy instructor's (one that came before Iruka and who disliked Naruto because of Kurama) headband with a fake that said "I'm an idiot" when he wasn't paying attention, resulting in all the students sniggering at him without a clue why.

The biggest joke yet however, was a repeat of the Hokage monument painting, pretty much the same designs as last time, with Naruto giving the instructions to Sasuke while they worked. The only difference was Minato's head. He was now painted with an expression of mortal terror, with tears in his eyes and a few lump designs on his hair. On the rock behind his head, there was an image of Kushina preparing to swing a rolling pin in both hands at the back of his head with fire in her eyes. Kushina thought it was a masterpiece, while Minato was shedding anime tears upon realizing that the whole village would now have an idea of how whipped he was.

But now Naruto was in trouble for an entirely different reason. He and Minato were now currently listening to the BS of three sets of angry parents claiming that Naruto had assaulted their children, while Naruto was busy trying to tell his father the real story.

_Flashback_

_"Now hurry up and apologize!" one of the three kids in question demanded Hinata as he grabbed her head and forced her to her knees._

_"I'm sorry," Hinata whispered._

_"Not good enough, say it like ya mean it!"_

_"Knock it off!" Naruto shouted at them as he came upon the scene. "She already apologized for whatever it is you think she did wrong, now leave her alone already!"_

_"Hey," one of them said as he looked at Naruto. "It's the Yondaime's kid"_

_"You're right," the one holding Hinata down replied, releasing her as he turned to Naruto. "So, you think you're better than us too, do ya? Well your old man ain't around now, so what are ya gonna do?"_

_"I'm gonna kick your asses if you don't back off now," Naruto declared._

_"Ha, look at you," the last one said with a sneer. "Already got a swelled head because of who your dad is? No wonder half the village hates you, and the rest of them are just trying to kiss up."_

_"Oh that's not why half of the village hates me, it is something else entirely. And though I won't deny that my head can swell up a little, it's due to my own abilities, not because of my dad."_

_"Oh, yeah? We'll see about that!" And with that they all charged Naruto who just looked bored, as evidenced by him digging in his ear with his pinkie._

_Three idiots getting their asses handed to them later…_

_"Now why don't __**you **__apologize?" Naruto asked the three, who were lying in pain on the ground._

_"We're sorry!" they said in unison._

_"Good, now get out of here!" They hastened to obey, running so fast they almost left their shadows behind._

_"T-t-th-thank you," Hinata said, as she rose shakily to her feet. "B-but why did you help me?"_

_"What? Do I really need a reason to help someone when they need it? My name is Naruto Namikaze by the way." He extended his hand to her._

_"H-Hinata Hyuuga." She shook his hand tentatively._

_"Lady Hinata!" Ko called out upon spotting her and coming up to the two. "What happened, why are you here of all places?"_

_A quick explanation of how the three boys had dragged her into the woods after she had run into them by mistake and how Naruto came to her aid was given. _

_"I see. You have my thanks, Namikaze-san," Ko said, bowing respectfully before taking Hinata's hand and leading her away. As they were leaving, Hinata looked back at Naruto with a glimmer of the same emotions she had for him the last time around._

_End Flashback_

Minato finally shooed the outraged parents out of his office with a sigh of exasperation. Really, some people did not seem to know the difference between assault and coming to someone else's defense these days. "Finally, I can get to important things," he said, sitting back down at his desk, and creating several clones. "Honestly, if it wasn't for that Shadow Clone secret Felix gave me for the paperwork, I would have lost my mind by now."

"Er, dad," Naruto began with a serious look on his face. "By important things, you mean the Uchiha's coup that is in the planning stages right about now right?"

There was a thump as Minato dropped the folder he had just retrieved in shock. "How did you- right, time travel," he deadpanned.

"Yeah, and I know how it ended last time too…"

….

Itachi walked into Minato's office later that night, confused as to why he was called on such short notice. He noted that Felix was also in the room before asking. "You wanted to see me Yondaime-sama?"

"Itachi, I am going to take action on the coup you have informed me about last week," Minato said.

Itachi blinked. "I thought you were going to try to try to resolve this peacefully, and asked me to try talking them out of it?"

"I was, but I fear that the situation is going to escalate very soon. I know Fugaku well enough to tell that he is beyond reason at this point in time, and I believe that Danzo plans to have the entire clan eradicated. He always was far too radical and forceful."

"The point is Itachi," Felix continued. "If we don't take decisive action now, there will be a blood bath on our hands. That is why the night after tomorrow we are going to raid the Uchiha compound and take Fugaku and other leaders in the coup into custody. I promise that no excessive force will be used unless there is resistance. The problem is that we don't have enough evidence justify the arrest as of yet."

"Am I to assume that this meeting is to ask me to get that evidence before we move?" Itachi asked.

"Yes, that is the case," Minato replied.

"That is unnecessary," Itachi said, earning incredulous looks from both Minato and Felix.

"What do you mean?"

"My father has committed another crime that we can bring him in for, and I can testify to it. He revealed to me that the Kyuubi is within your son."

"I see," Minato said. "And you are willing to do this? He is your family after all."

"I am capable of seeing the bigger picture Lord Yondaime. The village is the most important thing, and if there is a chance to resolve this without bloodshed, I will take it. Just promise me that my mother and my brother will be left unharmed."

"I already planned on it. Once we take Fugaku in, will the coup fall apart?"

"It should. Without my father as clan head, my mother should be able to take over, and she was against the coup from the beginning."

"Then all we need to do is make sure Mikoto and Sasuke are out of the way before we make our move, and hope things go smoothly."

….

On the night of the raid, Kushina was able to persuade Mikoto to bring Sasuke over to the Namikaze estate to train with Naruto. With that part of the plan out of the way, Minato left with his strike team, which consisted of Itachi, Felix, Kakashi, Might Gai and four of his best ANBU. As they approached the compound, Minato stated, "Remember, our objective is to get in, get Fugaku, and get out before things get ugly if possible. Odds are, we will encounter resistance, though I hope to avoid that. Should that occur, you have permission to use lethal force but ONLY if necessary. We need as little bad blood as possible to come of this." The rest of the team nodded in understanding.

…..

"Fugaku-sama!" an Uchiha clan member called to the clan head as he was about to enter his home.

"What is it?" Fugaku asked.

"The Hokage is on his way to the compound as we speak! He has several ANBU and Jonin with him, and Itachi is a part of the group!"

Fugaku cursed. He knew the Yondaime would not come unannounced unless as it was an emergency, and certainly not with a small fighting force. The only explanation was that he knew about the coup, and that meant Itachi had betrayed the clan. "So be it," he muttered. He still loved his son, but he had betrayed the entire clan with his actions and sided with the corrupt village that had put the Uchiha down for so long. "Inform all of our fighting ninja to prepare for a fight. Send the first five you find to me, I have a special task that needs taking care of."

The messenger immediately set off. Within two minutes Fugaku had the five shinobi he had requested assembled in front of him. "Good, that was quick," he said approvingly.

"What would you have us do Fukgaku-sama?" one of them inquired.

"I am sending you five to the Namikaze estate."

….

Just outside the Uchiha compound, Minato and his team were greeted by a large number of kunai and several fire style attacks. "Looks like they were expecting us," Kakashi remarked as they quickly dodged the assault. He pulled up his headband, revealing his Sharingan, and proceeded to engage two Uchiha that came at him.

"Itachi, get to Fugaku!" Minato shouted as the rest of the team was quickly tied up with a various number of Uchiha each. "We'll handle the rest of the clan here!"

"I'm on it!" Itachi responded, weaving through his attackers, Sharingan flared, heading for the building that his family lived in. He was momentarily stopped by a large group of his fellow clansmen who tried to bar his path. The way was then cleared however, when Felix launched a Thundering Gale Slice at them, forcing them to scatter. Felix came up beside Itachi, his eyes slit to show he was in his Dragon's Sage Mode.

"I've got you covered!" he told Itachi. "I'll keep your path clear until we get to Fugaku!" Itachi nodded in thanks as he dodged another clan member and Felix slammed the handle of his sword into the back of his head, knocking him out. Soon enough, they arrived outside of Itachi's home. "Go!" Felix shouted as four more of the clan came at them. Felix turned to face them while Itachi entered the building.

Itachi dashed through the halls of his home until he came to the main sitting room where he found his father waiting for him. "So, you chose the village over your clan and family," Fugaku stated as he drew his katana. "So be it."

"Father, there is no need for bloodshed," Itachi pleaded. "If you could just come quietly, and call off the rest of the clan-"

"Enough." Fugaku rushed Itachi, his katana coming down forcing Itachi to block with his own. Their blades were locked as Fugaku continued, "I already know your reasons, and you know mine. Now all that's left is for us both to put our convictions on the line. If you hesitate, I will cut you down."

They both jumped back and Fugaku fired a Giant Fireball Jutsu at Itachi, who dodged and the fireball and it blasted the entire side of the building out. "Father…" Itachi said sadly, and they rushed at each other again.

….

"You need to use more chakra," Naruto told Sasuke when the latter fell right off of the tree he had been attempting to walk up.

"I know, I know," Sasuke muttered, rubbing his newly acquired lump, while Kushina and Mikoto sniggered.

Then Mikoto froze and shouted, "Kushina, watch out!" She knocked Kushina aside and grabbed the arm of the man that had just tried to strike the back of Kushina's head with the blunt side of a kunai.

"Lady Mikoto!" the Uchiha protested, as she twisted his arm behind his back. "The Yondaime is laying siege to the Uchiha clan! We need to take his wife and child alive so we can stop him!"

"What!?" Mikoto cried, shocked at this, as she looked towards Kushina. Two more of the Uchiha quickly closed in on Kushina, only to be caught and restrained by her chakra chains.

"It's true," Kushina said. "Itachi told my husband about the coup, and they are trying to stop it now. We made sure that you and Sasuke would be here at the time, so that you two wouldn't be caught in the crossfire if things went south."

"I see," Mikoto replied, knocking out the Uchiha she had restrained earlier. "If that's the case, we need to move somewhere safer in the chance Fugaku sends more… wait, where are Naruto and Sasuke?"

Kushina whipped around to see that the two boys were indeed missing from the training grounds. "Oh no…"

….

_"Blast, I should have realized that bastard Fugaku would try to take Mom and me hostage," _Naruto thought angrily while he and Sasuke ran through the woods near the Namikaze training grounds. Upon realizing that he and Kushina were being targeted, Naruto had fled in an attempt to lead the other two Uchiha away from the others. Unfortunately, Sasuke had followed him, wanting to know what was going on.

Naruto stopped without warning, grabbed Sasuke's arm and threw him aside as a hail of shuriken came at them. He jumped and was able to avoid them. However, one of the Uchiha came up behind Naruto and caught him in a full nelson. "You're coming with us, Namikaze brat," she declared.

To her shock, Naruto just looked back at her with a grin and asked, "That so?" Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What? A Shadow Clone?"

"Rasengan!" The Uchiha woman turned in time to see the seven year old coming at her next to another of his clones, with a chakra sphere in his hand. Before she could do anything, the Rasengan was slammed into her gut and she was thrown back, impacting painfully against a tree. It was clear that she wouldn't be getting up any time soon. "You're next!" Naruto shouted as he turned to the remaining Uchiha shinobi, who quickly got over his shock and started casting his next jutsu.

_"No way," _Sasuke thought in disbelief as he watched Naruto charge the remaining enemy. _"Is my friend really that strong already?"_

Naruto avoided a fireball and closed in on his opponent, ramming his fist into the Uchiha's face, only to phase through. _"Crap, when did he put me in a genjutsu?" _Naruto thought as he frantically cast the hand sign to dispel it.

_"So he not only knows the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and his accursed father's Rasengan, but also already knows how to dispel genjutsu?" _ The Uchiha thought. _"Not bad…but it's too late!" _He dashed at Naruto with his kunai drawn.

Time suddenly seemed to slow for Sasuke when the shinobi dashed at his friend, who was unable to respond due to the genjutsu. "Naruto!" he cried out as he leapt towards them in desperation.

As the genjutsu was dispelled, the Uchiha shinobi came into view for Naruto, but with no remaining time to dodge the kunai thrust. _"Crap," _he thought.

Blood spattered the forest floor.

….

Itachi and Fugaku continued to clash their blades, occasionally launching a jutsu or two at the other. Fugaku would manage to get behind his son and impale him from behind, only for Itachi to dissolve into crows and reform for another attack. Itachi would launch a fireball at Fugaku and witness his father either dodge, or cut through the attack for a fast counter. And so the battle went, back and forth and through the streets of the Uchiha compound.

However, Fugaku was not expecting the battle to come to an abrupt halt when they charged each other again. Just before their blades clashed again, Fugaku slipped on blood that had been shed in what must have been a previous fight in the area between the clan's shinobi and the strike team. Normally, Fugaku would not have missed such a thing, but Itachi had covered the puddle with a genjutsu, having planned ahead of time.

"Forgive me," Itachi whispered before impaling his now off-balance father through the chest. Fugaku coughed up blood and collapsed.

"It seems…that I am finished." Fugaku managed to say. "Your determination to protect the big picture… it seems I underestimated your conviction, my son. If the village is truly that important to you, then there is something you must know."

"What do you mean?"

"I… wasn't alone… in plotting the coup. There was a masked man… who helped spur me on." Fugaku paused as he coughed up blood, and his breathing became more ragged. "He claimed to be…" He coughed even more violently.

"Father!" Itachi cried while realizing that Fugaku had only seconds left in this world. Not willing to let the knowledge die with him, Itachi shook him frantically. "Who did he say he was?"

"Ma-Madara… Uchiha," Fugaku managed to say with his dying breath.

Itachi's eyes widened as this sunk in. "But… that man should be dead," he whispered to himself. Shaking his head, he decided to work that out later as he picked up Fugaku's body, not realizing that his eyes momentarily took the form of a three pronged shuriken. He had a fight to stop.

….

Naruto was trying to deny the evidence before his eyes. Sasuke was standing in between him and the shinobi, the kunai that was meant for Naruto embedded in his gut as he gripped the arm of the shinobi with both hands, his teeth grit in pain. When the shinobi had attacked, Sasuke had come between him and Naruto, taking the hit for him. _"Not again," _Naruto thought with desperation _"NOT AGAIN!"_

_Flashback_

_It was over. The Jyuubi's Bijuu Bomb was coming for him, and he was too exhausted to dodge it. He had no hope of survival. "So this is how it ends…" he said with regret._

_Before the blast could hit him however, he watched a figure surrounded by a purple aura come between him and the blat, and take the full force of it. The explosion still had enough power to knock Naruto back, and cause him to black out, though he had recognized his friend in his last instant of consciousness. _

_End Flashback_

The Uchiha shinobi was horrified at what he had just done. His clan leader's son was now badly injured on the end of his weapon, glaring up at him with his now blood red eyes with two tomoe, before he blacked out. Before Sasuke even hit the ground, Naruto rammed full force into the man who had likely killed his friend. The impact launched him backwards until he skidded to a stop. Before he could even try to get up, Naruto was on top of him. The Uchiha stared in terror at Naruto's red slit eyes as the latter began mercilessly pounding him with a feral expression on his face.

Eventually, the man's screams for mercy got through to Naruto's mind. As Naruto looked down at the man's barely recognizable face, he was horrified at what he had done. He had almost killed a man, not out of necessity, but out of hatred. Had it gone any further, the man would have almost certainly died.

Sickened with himself, Naruto struck him one more time to knock him out and dashed back to Sasuke, his features returning to normal. To his immense relief, he found his friend still breathing though his wound was serious, and would need to be treated as soon as possible.

….

The night ended with the death of Fugaku made known and Mikoto arriving to order the rest of the clan to stand down. Naruto had managed to get Sasuke to the hospital on time, using a shadow Clone to find their mothers and letting them know what had occurred. Of the Uchiha's 67 fighting shinobi, 19 had been killed in the struggle, most of them at the hands of Minato and Felix, though not by design. Nearly all the rest were hospitalized for their injuries, along with Kakashi, who had overused his Sharingan, Gai, who had opened five celestial gates, and three of the ANBU them, the fourth being the only casualty on the strike team.

Itachi's friend Shisui Uchiha was discharged after a minor injury on his arm had been treated, and he apologized to Itachi for failing to stop the clan with his genjutsu before things had escalated, which Itachi had accepted.

Shisui departed the hospital greeting Felix as the latter passed by. Felix entered the hospital to find Naruto in the waiting room. "I heard what happened," he told the boy as he sat next to him. "Will Sasuke make it?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Naruto replied, though he still seemed downcast.

"Listen, it was not your fault. I also failed to see Fugaku's tactic coming. I know that this sounds ironic, but not even those who know the future can predict everything."

"It's not that, at least not entirely," Naruto replied before looking around to make sure no one was near. "When Sasuke took that kunai for me, it… was a reminder of how he had died, you know, before we came back."

"I see…"

"I snapped after that. I was beyond reason. I wanted to kill that man out of sheer hate, and I almost did."

"But you didn't. You regained your senses before it was too late. Most people who are pushed as far as you were would not have been able to do that. The fact that you could shows how strong you are, Naruto, and you should be proud of that."

"…Thanks, Felix."

"Anytime."

…..

Shisui sighed as he strolled through the forest outside of Konoha to clear his mind. A disaster had hopefully been averted, though it would take some time for things to fully settle down. He was relieved that they now at least had a clan head that would steer them towards peace.

He froze and whipped around. Nothing. He spent a few moments trying to make sense of the strange sense he had just had of someone being behind him. He finally relaxed and muttered, "All this excitement has been making me paranoid." He turned to resume his stroll and almost ran headlong into a man in black robes wearing a mask with a single eyehole. Before he could react, the man impaled him through the heart with a blade.

As the dying man glared up at his assailant, the latter said, "Your power will be quite useful indeed, Shisui Uchiha."

**A/N: I hope I handled this chapter well and resolved the incident to everyone's satisfaction because this ****_is_**** one of the most important events in the series.**

**I would like to ask all reviewers for their input on whether or not Felix should learn a complete elemental Rasengan. It would likely be the most powerful move in his arsenal, but I am still wondering if I should do it, or just have him use all the single element versions. Let me know what you think!**

**I am also planning on starting another fan fiction in about a month, once I have made plenty more progress with this story. It will center on the world of Dissidia: Final Fantasy and will feature Cosmos and Chaos summoning characters from a few anime series in addition to the characters from the game. Obviously, one of these series will be Naruto, and I plan on doing Bleach as well. Whoever thinks this is a good idea please let me know, and don't worry. I still plan on doing this story at a decent pace.**

**The next chapter will be featured around more of Naruto's and Sasuke's days at the academy, and the aftermath of the incident. Naruto and Sasuke will also deal with their now mutual worst nightmare (take a wild guess). For those who have yet to vote for either Hinata or Sakura, the poll will close tomorrow. Hinata is already way ahead, so you had better vote fast if you are a fan of Sakura and have a good guess ready.**

**Read, vote and review!**


	7. Chapter 6: Aftermath and Plots

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: This chapter will deal with the aftermath of the Uchiha incident, and will cover the academy days of Naruto and Sasuke before their graduation, along with a history lesson on the Elder Dimension from Felix. Minato will also figure out an important detail. With all votes in on the sibling question, looks like Naruto's going to be a brother, starting this chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6: Aftermath and Plots**

"You are sure of this?" Minato asked Itachi. It was the night after the incident, and Itachi had told the Yondaime about his father's final words.

"I am positive, Lord Hokage," replied Itachi. "The name my father gave me was that of one of the Leaf's co-founders, Madara Uchiha. I am not sure if this is the real Madara we are dealing with or not. He should be dead by now, but if there is someone who could extend his life like that, it would be him."

Minato sighed and rubbed his temples. It had come back to the masked man again. Felix told him that the masked man was not in fact Madara, but continued to refuse to tell him the man's true identity, and Naruto was keeping his mouth shut as well.

After digesting Itachi's words, Minato considered everything he knew about the man. He knew that, Madara or not, he was an extremely dangerous Uchiha. His mask only had one eye hole, the right one, which probably meant he was missing his left eye. He had seemed to know a thing or two about Minato's moves, though that could be written off as having a very good spy network. He had known Madara at some point, which probably put him at a decent age, though he would have to be a little past his prime for the most likely ages. Though there was still the possibility that Madara did extend his natural lifespan even if only a little…

Not only that, but Felix seemed to think that the knowledge was not something he would want to know about. As much as he trusted Naruto's and Felix's judgement, he felt he needed to figure this out. The man was an Uchiha who only used his right eye, seemed to know about Minato's abilities and there was thought that the knowledge would be something Minato would not take well… oh no. Minaot's eyes snapped open as the pieces fell into place. It couldn't be, but it fit much better than Minato would like.

Itachi noticed Minato deep in thought before seeming to have a sudden revelation. He was about to say something, but the door burst open and Asuma dashed into the room. "Lord Hokage! I am sorry to disturb you, but this is important! Someone somehow got into the morgue without leaving a trace of their presence, except for the fact that all the eyes of all the Uchiha that were killed during last night's incident have been taken by someone! Not only that, but Shisui Uchiha has been found dead in the forests outside of Konoha, and his eyes are missing as well!"

"What?!" Itachi shouted, shocked to hear about the demise of his closest friend.

….

"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked Sasuke as he entered the hospital room.

"I've been better physically, but I'll be fine in that area," Sasuke replied. "I just can't believe that my father would have done such things. Planning a coup on the village, and actually coming for you… I just don't understand…"

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least you awakened your Sharingan!"

Sasuke actually gave a small smile. "Yeah, there is that."

"Do you hate him?"

"No, I can't hate my own father. But I do know that he did need to be stopped, so I can't blame anyone for his death. Mom agrees with me on that."

_"Good, at least Sasuke isn't going down the path to hatred this time…" _Naruto thought with a sad smile._ "We've got a good start to fixing things."_

"Anyway, I'll be out of the hospital in a few days," Sasuke continued. "Then we can start training again. I don't want to have to take another kunai for you."

"Yeah, it's getting to be a habit with you…"

"What?"

"Oh! Er, nothing!" Naruto panicked, as he cursed his big fat mouth. He was saved from the possibility of Sasuke getting suspicious by the arrival of Itachi.

"Feeling all right Sasuke?" Itachi asked. "Hello Naruto," he then said with a small smile at his brother's friend.

"I'm fine, big brother," Sasuke replied. "What about you? You all right after being the one who had to kill Dad?"

"I'll get over it, but something else has occurred. Shisui is dead."

"What?!" Both Naruto and Sasuke demanded, having the same reaction as Itachi.

….

"You are quite generous, Obito," Raizen said as he removed his helmet and laid down on the operating table, his face still obscured by the shadows. "I knew that you would deliver the good faith payment, but to have a set of Mangekyo Sharingan? You certainly outdid yourself this time."

"It is no trouble at all," Obito replied, smirking under his mask as he prepared Shisui's eyes. "I can be quite generous with my power when I want to be…"

….

It was about two days after the incident had occurred and Naruto was being pulled towards his dad's office by Kushina. Apparently, after all that had happened, she was determined to give Minato some good news for a change. So now she was putting a scroll into Naruto's hands and pushing him into the office, telling him to open it towards Minato so he could read it when she gave him the go ahead.

Naruto felt he could use some good news as well. After learning of Shisui's death, he had been depressed. Even though he had never met the Uchiha, he had hoped that preventing the Uchiha clan massacre, he could save him as well. But it seemed as though he had failed again.

"Minato, how is it going?" Kushina asked sweetly as he and four clones were going through the large piles of paperwork that the incident had resulted in.

"Kushina, glad you and Naruto could stop by," Minato replied. "It's going alright, though it's going to take some time for the waters to calm between the village and the Uchiha clan."

"Well, Naruto and I have something to tell you," Kushina said with a nod to Naruto, who opened the scroll with the writing in it facing Minato, who stared dumbly at it for a few seconds before he fainted, his clones going poof as well. Confused as to why good news would make Minato pass out, Naruto checked the writing on the scroll before doing as his father had done, fainting.

Kushina laughed hysterically at the two as the scroll fell, the words, "I'm going to be a big brother!" displayed to the air.

…..

"Obito-sama, do you really think it was wise to give him a Sharingan that powerful?" Zetsu asked Obito.

"It is true, for now he will be a greater threat because of it," Obito replied. "But the Sharingan he is now using is Mangekyo, which will mean his vision will start to deteriorate to the point of blindness. That will give me an advantage when the time comes for us to struggle for power in this organization."

"But won't his Sharingan allow him to manipulate you? That will render your plans useless."

"I have already thought of that, which is why I am going to take a few of your clone spores. Every two minutes when I am around Raizen, you are to have them send a bit of chakra into my system. That should dispel any genjutsu he puts on me when I am not paying attention."

"I see. That is cunning, Obito-sama."

….

"FAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGIIIIIRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" both Naruto and Sasuke screamed in mortal terror as they fled the academy with a hoard of love struck girls right on their heels, Sakura and Ino in the lead. It had been five months since the incident with the Uchiha clan, and Naruto finding out that his mother was pregnant. Things had settled down for the time being. Mikoto had taken leadership of the clan as planned, though Itachi had some support. He had refused, preferring to remain an active shinobi. Sasuke had eventually moved on from the death of his father, though he was still seen mourning at times.

They had finally gotten Iruka as their teacher in the academy, and things had been looking up since then. Unfortunately, at some point, most of the girls had finally passed the "cooties phase" and were now after Naruto and Sasuke on a regular basis. This group had ambushed them as they had tried to leave the classroom unnoticed once the lesson was over.

Moving quickly, they rounded a corner and Naruto made 20 clones, had 10 of them turn into Sasuke, and the clones scattered in pairs, while the originals used the Transformation technique to appear as stones on the road. Once the fan girls were gone, they returned to their normal forms with a sigh of relief. "How the hell do they keep finding us?" Naruto asked exasperatedly. He remembered Sasuke having these problems the last time, but it was new for him. It was likely due to the fact that he was known as Minato's son this time around, and wasn't exactly bad looking.

"I don't know, but let's get out of here before they catch on that we are not among the decoys and come back," Sasuke replied, shuddering at the thought of being caught by them.

"Agreed."

They immediately set off, eventually finding themselves at Ichiraku's where they saw Itachi and Felix each enjoying a bowl. "Oh Sasuke, Naruto, how was your day at the academy?"Itachi asked. "You look a little like you've seen better days."

"Horrible… evil monsters…" Naruto replied with a shudder.

"It never ends," Sasuke continued. "Make it stop…"

Itachi sweat dropped as he watched both boys go into the fetal position. "Fan girls again?" he asked while Felix snorted. Itachi remembered his days in the academy, running for his life and dignity from the said plague. He recalled a particularly nasty incident when he had resorted to hiding in a dumpster to escape his fan club. He almost wished they had caught him upon being chewed out by both of his parents for coming home smelling like garbage as a result.

Part of the reason he became an ANBU was so he could get away with wearing a mask all the time so he could ditch them more easily. So far he was able to keep them from catching on to which ANBU was him, but he feared that it was only a matter of time before he would be requesting another mask be issued to him from Minato.

After Naruto and Sasuke recovered from their horrible experience, Itachi bought Sasuke a bowl of ramen (though he was smart enough to refrain from paying for Naruto's: his wallet could not be labeled as a masochist anytime soon). After that, he and Sasuke headed home.

"Hey, Naruto," Felix said while Teuchi was gleefully counting the money he had made off of Naruto. The only other customer who brought in this much was Kushina, and she was eating for two now, so Teuchi was making a killing lately. "Your father wants to have a word with the two of us."

"What about?" Naruto asked, slurping up his last bowl of ramen.

"He did not say, but it probably has something to do with the ED…"

"All right, let's go." With that, Felix paid his bill and they headed off towards the Hokage's tower. "You know, I remember my days when I was being chased by fan girls as well…"

"What? You had fan girls too?"

"Of course. I was a prodigy back in the Elder Dimension growing up and I am from one of the more prestigious clans there. Not only that, but my looks were considered devilishly good to a lot of them."

Naruto snorted. "So, how do you deal with it?"

"I got married to a very scary woman," Felix deadpanned. "It's amazing what having a wife that terrifies the living daylights out of people making it clear that you're taken can do to that otherwise unstoppable force."

"Well, that certainly explains why Dad doesn't seem to have many problems. But doesn't that mean you're whipped?"

Felix sweat dropped. "There is no such thing as a perfect solution you know."

Naruto sniggered. **"I bet you're wishing that that vixen of yours wasn't so shy right about now, eh Naruto?" **Kurama sniggered.

_"Shut up Fuzzbutt, we haven't even started to really talk to one another yet," _Naruto thought at Kurama before he asked Felix,"You know, you just reminded me when you mentioned your clan, is it the most powerful one in the Elder Dimension?"

"No, though it is up there. Of course, the most powerful clan that the Elder Dimension saw, the Genshukuayatsuri, died out long ago."

"The Genshukuayatsuri? Who were they?"

"These days, we only have legends of them, but their Kekkei Genkai allowed them to manipulate gravity at will."

"Isn't that the force that pulls us down to the ground?"

"I see that your mother has been hard at work pounding information into your head. That is correct, though that is not all there is to it. You see, all objects have a gravitational attraction to them and other objects. The more mass an object has, the greater the attraction. Since the ground has the most mass in the world, it has the strongest pull on all objects near it.

"But a Genshukuayatsuri could easily increase or decrease these attractions with a thought, and reverse them, allowing them to attract one object to another, or repel them. It's kind of like what Pain could do, only with more power behind it. It was also a simple matter for them to either make objects either lighter or heavier at will, even to the point where flight was child's play for them. Supposedly, this actually allowed them to wear armor as heavy as they desired while making it light enough to easily move in without even being slowed. In fact, I believe that a few used their abilities to condense whatever metal they chose to a point where it was virtually impenetrable, and used their power to make the extra weight nonexistent."

"But that kind of power would eat up a large amount of chakra," Naruto said. "To use it like that in battle, constantly maintaining it, they would not have lasted that long."

"Under most circumstances, that would be correct. However, the Genshukuayatsuri had massive chakra reserves, comparable to a Bijuu," Felix paused to let this sink in. "Not only that, but they somehow had very good chakra control despite this, enough to make those regular clones that you had so much trouble with if they wanted to, not that they ever had a use for such a technique. With those factors working for them, they were able to meet the heavy demands of their jutsu. And if the legends are anything to go on, their greatest application of their power was to create a microscopically small point where the gravity was so strong, that even light would be sucked into it, from an area about the same size as a normal Rasengan. They could use this for either defense by absorbing attacks into it, or offense by using it as a projectile on enemies. And if that point of gravity absorbs enough matter, they could "detonate" it by releasing the gravity from that point, causing it all to violently explode, likely with enough power to rival a Bijuu Bomb if it was going for more than a minute."

Naruto shuddered. He did not relish the idea of going up against someone who had that much power. "If they were that powerful, what happened to them?"

"They were not a virtuous clan to say the least. It is believed that their Kekkai Genkai twisted their minds at birth, resulting in them becoming power hungry. If there ever was a clan that was born evil, it would be them. At one point, they became the tyrannical rulers of the Elder Dimension until all other clans united and rose up against them. Even then, the only real reason they were defeated was because the clans outnumbered them by over a hundred to one, and even then, about 90 percent of the allied clans' forces were slain in the struggle. But in the end, the Genshukuayatsuri clan was driven to extinction."

"Wow," Naruto said as they approached the Hokage's tower.

….

"Good, you're both here," Minato said when Naruto and Felix entered the office.

"Look, Minato, I already told you," Felix started. "I am not going to tell you every little detail of the future until we get to points where we need your assistance to change something so…"

"It is not that I want to ask Felix, this is about the masked man."

Felix sighed and said, "I already said that you are better off not-"

"He's Obito, isn't he?"

Felix and Naruto both stiffened. "So you know then," Felix said. "I guess it wasn't that hard to figure out, now that I think about it."

Minato sighed and buried his face in his hands, clearly having hoped that Felix or Naruto would deny what he had deduced.

"Minato, I know what you are thinking," Felix said. "You can't hold back if it comes to another fight between you two. As much as I hate to say it, he has become too dangerous to do so. Saving him is out of the question now. Kakashi tried, but Obito likely killed him in the future, though neither Naruto or I saw it. I did not want you know, because I thought you would hesitate to do what needs to be done. He is already most likely past the point of no return, and what's worse, he actually believes that his goals, which I still won't say yet, are ultimately for the greater good."

"I know that, though it won't be easy to stop thinking of him as my student."

"You are going to have to put those feelings aside when the time comes. Remember, Naruto and I have seen what the future he brought about is like, and we need to prevent it, even if it does mean killing Obito."

"I know how you feel Dad," Naruto piped up. "I had a comrade in the future who went down a dark path despite my best efforts to prevent it, and I was fixated on bringing him back. Eventually he did come back, but it was only due to some special circumstances that I had little to do with. And he barely made the decision to honor the choices of the one he was trying to avenge, he had been so far gone. Obito is already beyond even that point. I won't say that he can't be saved but… he did so many things that I cannot forgive, even if many of them haven't happened yet and I prevented the first of them."

"You're talking about the death of Kushina and I, right?" Minato asked. Then he sighed. "You're both right. If he truly has fallen so far as to try to destroy the village and try to kill her, then he will see no mercy from me. I promise that."

….

At an Akatsuki hideout, Orochimaru was busy finishing one of his experiments before he stiffened and turned in time to see a masked man appear out of virtually nowhere. "Who are you?" he demanded before he pulled his sword out of his mouth and called several snakes.

"I am the true leader of the Akasuki," Obito said boldly.

Orochimaru frowned at this. "I thought our leader was Pain… oh I see, you're using him as a figurehead."

"You are correct. And there is something I would discuss with you."

"Very well, but who exactly are you? Your name this time please."

"Madara Uchiha."

Orochimaru's eyes widened. "I don't believe you. That man is supposed to be dead."

Obito laughed. "Oh, Orochimaru, did you really think that you were the one to develop a means of immortality?"

"So you know about that?"

"Indeed. I am also aware of the fact that you have your eyes set on one of the followers of one of our members, Raizen Genshukuayatsuri."

Orochimaru frowned. "If that is the case, then why haven't you already tried to kill me, since I am plotting against the organization?"

"Because I am worried that Raizen is planning on playing us all for fools. I promised him his current set of Sharingan as well as another powerful dojutsu, but I believe he is in reality after the prize that I myself desire. It is in my best interests therefore, for me to allow you to attempt to remove one of his pawns for me. However, whether you are successful or not, should you survive and flee the organization, I see no reason that we can't still privately help each other toward a mutual side goal: the destruction of the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Go on…"

…..

It was about four months since Minato had deduced Obito's identity, and things were quiet at the academy. Hinata was staring intently at Naruto, trying to figure him out. He was the Yondaime's son and was top of the class along with his best friend Sasuke, but he did not seem to think he was superior to everyone despite all this. He was always willing to go out of his way to help someone, just like he had helped her that day. That said, he did have a rather boisterous attitude and pulled a great deal of pranks, with Sasuke always willing to lend a hand to them, but they never did anything too cruel, with the possible exceptions of Tora being set loose into the Inuzuka compound and that memorable incident with the monument painting that let the village know that the Yondaime was whipped. And most people laughed about the jokes afterwards, even if they were the victims.

But what Hinata was really trying to figure out about him were his eyes. There seemed to be a deep sorrow in them, the kind that she recognized because of her mother dying when there were complications in Hanabi's birth. But why did his eyes have that look? Sure, there were plenty of villagers who seemed to hate the boy for some reason, but that was not enough to warrant such a sense of loss. What could have happened to make Naruto's eyes like that? And it only seemed to get more complicated when she noticed that he seemed to glance at her sometimes, with the sense of loss seeming to increase, as well as something else appearing in his eyes. It took Hinata some time to place just what emotion it was that appeared whenever this had occurred: longing. It was almost as if she had known him before, with them being at least somewhat close, but had forgotten. This conclusion only confused her more.

Naruto and Sasuke were in the midst of exchanging notes (or plotting their next joke under the guise of exchanging notes), when they and everyone else in Konoha heard the anguished scream, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOD IT HUUUUUUUUUUUUURTTTSSSSSS!" Naruto sweat dropped. He recognized that voice, and there was only one thing that could make its owner cry out that loud in pain that loudly. His mom was in labor. He guessed he would have to put the masterpiece he and sasuke were planning on hold.

…

About ten hours later, he was holding the newborn redheaded girl, Akari Namikaze. His parents had gotten back from the delivery room and Kushina was more than willing to let Naruto get acquainted with his new sister. Naruto was wondering if Akari would resemble their mother as much as he resembled their father.

He laughed when Minato told the story of how he had learned Kushina was in labor. Apparently he had dashed out of his office in a hurry with the secretary asking what about the paperwork, and he had answered that unless that was having babies as well, though he wouldn't exactly be surprised if that was where it all came from, then it could wait.

Naruto gazed at Akari fondly. He had never expected to have a sibling. But then, last time around he lacked what he had always wanted, and this time he was able to reclaim it. A family.

**A/N: And that's chapter six. Graduation is next chapter, and Felix will have a gift for Naruto. Final results are in for the votes and it looks like Hinata is the winner. As for whom the Jonin instructor will be… just wait and see! It will be next chapter.**

**Please review!**


	8. Chapter 7: Teams and Troubling Rumors

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Finally, the graduation exams and team placements! Now I can stop rushing through the story! I have wanted to get to this part for soooooooo long!**

**Chapter 7: Teams and Troubling Rumors**

"Today's the day!" an excited Naruto told Sasuke as they headed towards the academy for their graduation exams. They were both a little nervous, but confident that they would be able to pass, even with the academy's new rule that for graduation, not only the academy three jutsu would be required, but an additional jutsu of the student's choosing would be required to pass and become a ninja. Minato was serious about raising the standards of the academy, so that genin would be more prepared for the shinobi world.

They took their seats and the written part of the test began. Of course, it was easy, even if Naruto did not specialize in this area. Next, came the shuriken and kunai proficiency aspect of the test, which both Naruto and Sasuke both passed with perfect scores, nailing the bulls eyes every time. They both went back into the building, pleased with themselves thus far.

One by one, each student was called into the exam room and exited with their new forehead protectors while Naruto and Sasuke waited somewhat impatiently for their turn. Naruto gave Hinata thumbs up as she exited the exam room wearing her forehead protector around her neck. She blushed and returned to her seat.

**"You're in luck Kit; it seems that she has a crush on you again this time as well. I guess some things are just meant to be," **Kurama chortled.

_"Don't say that, you'll make me think the future is going to go to hell again," _Naruto mentally replied.

Kurama snorted and said, **"Please. I know that it would take more than me jinxing things to stop you from changing things, hopefully for the better."**

"Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka called.

"Good luck, not that you'll need it," Naruto confidently told Sasuke, who smirked in response before entering the exam room. Sure enough he was back out before long, wearing his forehead protector with a look of pride on his face. Naruto noted that all the rest of the Rookie 9 had passed as well, even Sakura, who he had his doubts about due to the new requirements. Finally…

"Naruto Namikaze," Iruka beckoned. With a confident grin, Naruto entered the exam room. "All right then Naruto, show me a basic Transformation. Without hesitation, Naruto took on the form of Minato (he was tempted to use his Sexy Jutsu since that would technically pass the exam, and in a fun way, but he decided to be serious for a change). "Good, now try a Substitution with that chair when I toss this book at you." As expected, Naruto performed it flawlessly. "Okay, now for your Clone technique."

"I hope you don't mind if I use shadow clones instead of regular ones," Naruto replied as he produced three perfect copies of himself.

"No of course not Naruto, your father informed me of your reserves and besides, Shadow Clones are more useful." Mizuki scowled at this as Naruto dispelled his clones.

_"I almost forgot about Mizuki. What to do about him?" _Naruto wondered.

"Now all you need to graduate is any other jutsu of your choosing," Iruka said. "Let's see what you've got."

Naruto nodded and upturned his palm. "Rasengan." With that, the technique materialized into his hand. Over the past few years, Minato and Felix had been taking an active role in Naruto's training. One of the major things they had worked on was getting rid of Naruto's glaring weakness of needing a clone's assistance to form the technique. He still needed one to form the Rasenshuriken, but that was definitely progress. He had also learned some basic wind style jutsu, and Felix had helped him learn to use earth element techniques.

Minato and Kushina also started Naruto on fuinjutsu. The sealing arts proved to be extremely complex, but Naruto somehow had a natural knack for it. It was most likely due to his Uzumaki blood, as well as his father being a fuinjutsu master. He had already learned how to store objects within seals, as well as create exploding tags. Another useful trick he learned was the Finger Carving Seal, a jutsu that allowed the user to apply writing to any surface they chose. With a pang, Naruto recognized it as the jutsu Jiraiya had used to write his last code on Fukasaku's back before being killed by Pain.

Minato had decided to try teaching Naruto the Hiraishin as well, though Kushina was against it at first, declaring she had enough problems with a single Yellow Flash going all over the place with no warning. She relented when Minato pointed out that the way Akari was growing up, there would be a second coming of the Bloody Habanero. So far, Naruto was making decent progress.

"That's… amazing," Iruka said as he took in Naruto's Rasengan. "I never would have thought that you had already mastered your father's jutsu, Naruto." He grabbed one of the forehead protectors and tossed it to Naruto. "Congratulations on passing Naruto. You are now a shinobi of the Leaf, a title I know you will bear with pride."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei," Naruto replied. He exited the room as he tied the headband around his forehead.

"Looks like you passed too," Sasuke said.

"Of course I did," Naruto responded with a smug look. "Was there ever any doubt?"

"Well, let's go, our families are waiting for us at Ichiraku's. We wouldn't want to keep them waiting with good news now would we?

…..

"Look, Mommy, big brother and his weird haired friend are here!" Akari declared as Naruto and Sasuke approached, earning a chuckle from everyone else present while Sasuke developed a tick mark.

"My hair is not weird, you little rascal!" Sasuke retorted at the four year old, only to make everyone to laugh a little harder.

"Another bowl please, Teuchi-sama!" Both Akari and Kushina demanded at once, holding out their empty bowls. To Teuchi's eternal delight, both of Kushina's children had inherited her seemingly endless appetite for ramen, and on a day where all three of them were around, he raked it in.

"Coming right up!" Teuchi declared as he and Ayame quickly busied themselves.

"One for me too please!" Naruto requested.

"And by one, you mean one dozen, right?" Sasuke asked after he placed his order.

"Maybe."

Sasuke laughed as he turned to his sibling and mother, only to be quickly smothered by a crushing hug from his mother. "I can't believe you've graduated Sasuke, you're growing up so fast!"

"Mom, geroff me," Sasuke begged as he was once again the subject of everyone's laughter. "Hey, give me that camera, Naruto!"

"No way," Naruto responded gleefully as he avoided Sasuke after the latter broke free of his mother. "This is going into the scrapbook of your embarrassment."

"Get back here!" A short chase around the area ensued, before Kushina shouted at both boys to settle down and get their ramen before it got cold.

Naruto quickly finished his first bowl, and Teuchi already had his next one ready, having learned by then about that appetite that ran in the family. "It's good that you are a ninja at last Naruto, though I'm curious. Why aren't you wearing your headband on your head? I would have thought that you wold be proud to show it off."

"Huh?" Naruto replied, confused. "What are you talking about, old timer, I'm wearing it right…WHAT?!" Sure enough, said forehead protector was missing. "Where did it go? Where's my headband?" Naruto asked frantically as he started to panic.

"Look Mommy, look Daddy, I'm a ninja!" Akari squealed in delight as she ran around the stand, with (you guessed it) Naruto's forehead protector having somehow gone from his head to hers.

"Why, you little! Come back here with that!" Needless to say, another chase ensued around the stand, everyone else laughing.

"I got a scrapbook of my own," Sasuke remarked as he snapped a picture of Naruto right behind his cackling sister, his arms outstretched and falling just short of laying hands on her.

"Your friend's sister is quite a handful," Itachi noted.

"You have no idea," Minato and Kushina both deadpanned when Naruto finally caught the said bundle of energy. With a pout, Akari relinquished his headband.

"Oh, by the way Naruto, once we are done eating," Minato began. "Felix said that he had something for you after you graduated."

"Sweet," Naruto replied, already on his fourth bowl, knowing anything Felix had to offer had to be good.

….

"What'd you get me? What'd you get me?" The excited blonde asked upon entering Felix's home.

"I didn't get you nothing," Felix replied. "I actually made this." With that, he pulled out a sheathed katana that was about three and a half feet in length. "I hear that the Uzumakis were fairly skilled with kenjutsu, so…"

"Awesome!" Naruto declared as he swiped the weapon away and drew it. "What the?" Despite the sheath being three and a half feet long, the sword itself was about a foot shorter. "What gives?"

"That is a ninjato. A scaledown version of a katana, made for more speedy attacks, while retaining some of the cutting power. It's short like that because it is really the right shape for you, and it is traditional for a ninja, at least in the Elder Dimension with that class of fighter."

"Okay, but why is the sheath so long then?"

"Surprise. A more analytical opponent will try to judge the likely amount of time it will take for their enemies to draw their blades. You'll be able to get yours free of the sheath a split second sooner than those enemies would anticipate. And on the battlefield, a split second could save your life."

"I like that idea."

"Good, because I don't have enough cash to afford any more of the chakra conducting metals I would need to lengthen the thing , not after the last time I made the mistake of treating you to Ichiraku's," Felix said jokingly. "If you want the blade to be longer, all you have to do is run a little wind chakra through it anyway. And that is not all the sword can do, either. With some help from your parents, I put some seals on the weapon. Any chakra based attack that you can block with the weapon will be sealed within it, for you to release against your enemies later, though it won't be able to hold the chakra for very long before it disperses."

"Okay then. What's this sword's name?"

"I thought that you should give it its name, since you will be its first wielder. And I hope that it is a blade that will earn some fame and be passed down with honor."

"Alright, I'll see what I can come up with."

"And I also recreated the blade Sasuke had used last time. Mind giving it to him for me?"

"No problem."

….

It was about a week later when Minato had decided all the team placements. He had decided to spend a little more time actually trying to make the teams with the best matchups possible, rather than simply putting the dead last with the top boy and girl. He wanted to make teammates that would have the best chances of working together, so when deciding his son's team, he did not hesitate for a second before putting Naruto and Sasuke together. Kami knows, they were as devious as hell when they collaborated with those underhanded jokes of theirs.

The third teammate was a bit of a dilemma, but Minato ultimately decided on Hinata. Not only did it seem that she and Naruto seemed to like each other, encouraging them to work together, but Minato had noticed that she had a good deal of potential. She was simply too shy and reserved to let it show, and would need some combat experience before she could become stronger. Naruto and Sasuke had the best chance of keeping her alive until then.

As for their jonin instructor, he had a strange request regarding that. He had originally intended to put Team 7 with Kakashi, but he had to admit that the one who requested to be the teacher would be a good choice as well. That person and Kakashi had already discussed it, and Kakashi agreed to surrender Team 7 to them, and rejoin ANBU. With a sigh of relief, Minato finished writing down the team placements before handing the folder to Iruka ,who was in his office waiting for the choices.

….

Iruka entered the academy room and noted everyone was there. He nodded to Naruto and Sasuke, a little surprised to see them both wearing swords strapped to their backs, though he had to admit that they probably did have some potential in kenjutsu.

Naruto was grinning and wondering who he would be placed with this time, seeing as he was no longer the dead last this time, so he realized his chances of being placed with Sasuke would be slim. Sasuke was hoping to be placed with Naruto himself, and praying to Kami that they would not be stuck with one of the fan girls. Speaking of which, Sakura and Ino were busy fighting over the seat next to Sasuke. _"Please, Kami," _Sasuke thought, revising his thinking. _"I'll take any teammates, even fan girls, just please not one of those two, or heaven forbid, BOTH OF THEM."_ Sasuke shuddered at the extremely unpleasant thought before turning to Naruto, who was in the other seat next to him and saying in an undertone, "Naruto, if I end up on a team with one of those two, or both of them, I want you to kill me immediately, without a second thought. Don't hesitate, it will be the kindest thing you could do for me."

"You don't even have to ask," Naruto replied jokingly, placing his hand near the hilt of his sword, which he had named Arashikatta (Tempest Cutter). Sasuke had yet to name his weapon, because nothing good came to mind. "You shouldn't tempt me like that, Sasuke. Just promise to do the same for me if I end up with two of MY fangirls."

"Agreed."

"Alright everyone, settle down," Iruka called. "I am about to tell you all your team placements. This year, the methods of selection were a little different, as the Yondaime Hokage personally decided to take more of a hand in selecting the teams to ensure the best possible results. I am about to call them out. Team 1 will be…"

Naruto was not paying much attention to this, just listening for the names of the Rookie 9. He had pretty much given up on the idea of being placed with Sasuke, though he had some hope of being placed with Hinata. His thoughts were interrupted when Iruka called, "Team 7 will be Naruto Namikaze, Hinata Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto's heart skipped a beat as his wildest hopes of being on a team had come true, Sasuke also breathing out a major sigh of relief. He almost did not notice Sakura and Ino trying to hang themselves in the back of the room until a panic stricken Iruka tried to stop them. Once order had been restored, Iruka continued, "Your jonin instructor will be Itachi Uchiha." This shocked both Naruto and Sasuke.

…..

After the teams had finally been finished with the announcing, the only other difference to the Rookie 9 was a sobbing Sakura being placed on Kurenai's team with Kiba and Shino. Asuma's Team 10 was the same as last time. Naruto wanted the whole team to eat at Ichiraku's to celebrate, but Sasuke had insisted on going different for a change. They eventually found themselves at the barbeque area that Team 10 was celebrating at.

Ino was looking depressed until Sasuke came into view. "Oh, Sasuke, over here, come sit here!" She shouted as she kicked an unfortunate Shikamaru halfway across the stand from the seat next to her.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, while rubbing the lump on his head.

"I changed my mind, we can go to Ichiraku's after all," Sasuke whispered to his two teammates, making Hinata giggle nervously.

Before Naruto could agree with this stroke of luck however, Felix showed up out of nowhere. "I'm sorry Naruto, but could you come with me? It's urgent."

Naruto sighed. "Sorry to bail on you two, but duty calls." Both Hinata and Sasuke nodded reluctantly at this. As they set off, Naruto asked "What is so important?"

"I don't know yet, but one of my old friends from the Elder Dimension showed up with news that she needs to tell everyone else in this dimension who I have informed about the Elder Dimension. It does not seem good."

Naruto nodded and did not say anything else until they reached the Hokage's office. Kushina was already there, along with a woman with bright purple hair cut just above her shoulders and intense blue eyes and a figure that was somewhere between the future Sakura's and Ino's. She wore a plain black headband, as a simple grey kimono with a sash around the waist.

The woman looked up as Felix and Naruto entered the room. "Just three people Felix?" she asked. "I know that your pride has been wounded by having to resort to time travel to defeat the enemy you were sent to handle, but you should have at least a couple more people within this circle, and only the one you used to turn the clock back has all his memories."

"I actually have four in on this Ceilia," Felix responded. "We are just going to have to go into the mindscape of this one here if you want the fourth to be included in this conversation."

"All right then," she replied as she put her hand on Naruto's head, followed by Minato, Kushina and Felix. They all found themselves in the room that once held Kurama's cage with said tenant waking up to this intrusion.

**"What's this?" **Kurama yawned. **"Another meeting in here? Let's make this quick, I was taking a nap. And who is that?"**he asked upon catching sight of Ceilia.

"Another friend from the Elder Dimension, just like Felix," Minato responded. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves to her first."

Everyone agreed to this, and after said introductions were done with, Ceilia nodded. "Before I tell you anything about me, or why I am here, I am going to make sure that you are all trustworthy," she said as she undid her headband. Before anyone could ask what she meant, they noticed that she had a horizontal slit on her forehead that had been covered by the headband. She closed her eyes as the slit opened to reveal a third eye with a scarlet pupil. Everyone was shocked except for Felix, who had already known about this.

Naruto froze as the eye's gaze fell upon him, having the strange feeling that his soul itself was being watched. The felling passed as Ceilia turned away to view the others. With a nod, she closed the eye and opened her normal ones, replacing the headband. "Sorry about that," she said. "It seems that I can trust you all with my information. My name is Ceilia Aki. What you just saw was the Tamashi Kensaku Me (Soul Search Eye). As the name implies, it allows the bearer to glimpse into the character of whoever it's gaze falls upon, but don't worry, I can't read your mind or access your private thoughts. It also allows me to have an understanding of any jutsu or technique I come across, though not on the same level as this dimension's Sharingan, so I can't copy them without practicing them first, though I can easily figure out strengths and weaknesses of said abilities and how best to counter them. I can also spot traps with it with no problems.

"What I like most about this though is that I can understand any language I read with it, including the sealing arts. As you might expect, those of us with this third eye are considered fuinjutsu masters of the highest order in the Elder Dimension, and we are the only ones who can make seals as complex as the one that Felix used to turn time back. In fact, I am the one who wrote his. The biggest drawback is that the eye automatically consumes chakra when it is open, and it only takes about 30 minutes for the user to be completely drained, closer to 10 if we're fighting. "

"I see," Minato said. "That is a very impressive Kekkei Genkai."

"It's not a Kekkei Genkai," Felix said. "It was developed about half a century ago by one of our most brilliant scientists, and it is not all that difficult to manufacture. The reason it is so rare for someone to have one is because it kills about 80 percent of all people it is tried to be implanted in, and drives most of the survivors insane. It is also supposed to be excruciatingly painful, even with sedatives, which is part of the reason for the last two potential side effects. It also erases any Kekkei Genkai the recipient may have.

"It was almost banned from being implanted any more after final results, but those who acquired it proved so useful that very restricted attempts are still allowed, not a single one lightly. Currently, Ceilia is one of only three that are on active duty with it, and one of them, while not insane enough to be a danger to others or himself, did get a little crazy from the procedure. How even he saw logic in trying to plant chickens to grow eggs, I will never know." Everyone sweat dropped at this last comment.

"Four actually," Ceilia said. "Another one was added while you were gone, but we digress. What I am about to tell you is very important. Just three days ago, we came across a sort of cult. Their uniform was somewhat simple, mostly black hooded robes that hid their faces. They were oppressing a small village, so we took care of it and captured one of them alive for interrogation. His mind was protected by some strong seals of course, one that even covered the Pulse Imprint Jutsu."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Remember when I said I viewed your memories, Naruto?" Felix asked. "That was what I used. It is a highly advanced and delicate technique. The idea is to send a pulse of electricity or lighting chakra into the subject's head to their hippocampus, the part of the brain that stores memories. It then basically creates an imprint of all that is stored there before it flows back to the user and overlaps **their** hippocampus, storing copies of the memories there. Simple, yet effective. If used properly, it is also capable of reawakening suppressed memories, such as the ones that still exist after time is turned back as a faint echo. The seal you used automatically did this for you."

"Back to the topic," Ceilia continued. "By the time we broke through his seals, his mind was broken beyond repair. However, we were still able to pick out a few coherent words, three of which seem to be in the same context, and alarmed everyone who was privy to them." She gazed at all of them intently before she continued, "They were Lord Genshukuayatsuri, followed soon after by Jyuubi."

Felix and Naruto both paled after hearing this with Kurama growling. Minato and Kushina just looked confused. "What exactly is so bad about the Genshukuayatsuri part?" Kushina asked. "And the Jyuubi is long gone after what the Rikudou Sennin did."

Naruto and Felix both proceeded to explain that the future had gone to hell because Obito's final goal involved bringing back the Jyuubi and succeeded, albeit an incomplete version. Then Felix explained about the legends of a Genshukuayatsuri. He finished with the statement, "If one of them really is alive and has designs on the Jyuubi, most likely planning on sealing it within himself, then not even the Elder Dimension would be safe if he were to succeed. He would be virtually unstoppable, if virtually can even be used in the statement. The Jyuubi nearly destroyed both of our worlds if you remember, and the Genshukuayatsuris were easily the most powerful human beings to ever exist, with the possible exceptions of the Rinnegan bearers, not counting a particular one you knew, Naruto. He has barely scratched the surface of its full potential."

"And the worst part is, most of the Elder Dimension's council does not wish to believe the rumors of this," Ceilia growled. "They would rather pretend nothing was wrong, because the alternative is too scary for them to bear. The most decisive action they have yet taken was sending me here to investigate the rumors and tip you off. I do admit that the rumors are rather unlikely though. It was a cult we took down after all, and they probably just viewed the Genshukuayatsuris and the Jyuubi as gods of destruction, and the one whose mind we read was in bad mental shape. Plus the Genshukuayatsuris were supposed to all be dead for centuries, and I don't think that our ancestors would have stopped hunting them until absolutely certain that the threat was gone forever."

"I agree," Felix said. "The chance that a Genshukuayatsuri survived all this time is slim at best. However, we should still treat this situation as though the rumors are true. If there is even the slightest chance of a member of that clan getting his hands on the Jyuubi, we must make sure that it does not happen."

"Agreed," everyone else said at once.

**A/N: And that is an ominous ending to chapter 7. **

**To answer Anon's review of my poker scene, when I said ace flush, I meant a normal flush with the suit being aces, not a royal flush. Sorry if I confused too many people with this.**

**So, how many people were expecting Itachi to be the sensei? No one seemed to because I did not get a single guess to it. Things are going to get very interesting from here…**

**38 reviews people! That's an average of more than five per chapter I have already posted! I was thinking about holding chapters after the tenth for ransom until I had 50 reviews, but it does not look like I will have to. My story must be pretty good, thanks so much for your support guys! I am shooting for 150 reviews by chapter 20, at this rate I should be in good shape.**

**So read, enjoy and review, review, review!**


	9. Chapter 8: Departure for the Waves

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: This chapter will cover Naruto's first strides as a genin, and will begin the Wave mission. He will also meet Konohamaru again, and will regret on more than one occasion introducing the boy to his sister. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 8: Departure for the Waves**

They left Naruto's mind and Felix turned to Ceilia, "So you are staying until the rumors are confirmed true or false?"

"Yes, so I will need a cover story, Hokage-sama," she said.

"I can probably establish you as a chunin for a while until we have a better idea of your abilities," Minato replied and Ceilia nodded.

"By the way," Kushina began. "You are the one who made the seal for the time travel scroll right? Do you mind if I tried to figure it out? I don't intend to use it or anything, but it is an amazing piece of work, and I would like to challenge myself on it."

"Good luck," Ceilia replied as Felix handed the scroll to Kushina. "You may be from a clan of fuinjutsu specialists, but I bet that this is way beyond you. It took me years to learn, even with the Tamashi Kensaku Me. The only one who could make the seal without one was the one who created it in the first place, and he was beyond a genius of fuinjutsu. No one had been able to replicate his work after he had died nearly four centuries ago, not until the eye had been developed, allowing its bearers to eventually reverse engineer his seals. But if you manage to even begin to pick it apart, I will be extremely impressed. I still can't believe Felix actually had to use it though. You must be slipping."

"Hey, cut me some slack, it was the freaking Jyuubi I was up against," Felix replied, causing Ceilia to shrug in a "good point" kind of way.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked with an evil grin. "You never went up against the Jyuubi; it was Madara who beat you."

"I'll remember this, brat," Felix growled as Ceilia started laughing at him.

….

Naruto and Felix were walking back to the place where they had left Naruto's teammates while Felix was deep in thought. "Hey what's up Felix? You still thinking about what we just heard?"

"Yeah actually. I'm thinking that we should restore Itachi's memory."

"Why's that?"

"Because I know that he has the sense to not change every little thing he does not like. Not only that, but we do need some powerful allies to be sure things go better this time, ones who are in on this, particularly now, when you possibly have a member of that clan after you. I'll feel better if someone who knows what to look out for is with you."

"Good thinking," Naruto said before stiffening and turning around to see a familiar square rock behind him. "Alright, come out. It is easy to tell that the rock you are hiding in is fake."

With that, Konohamaru jumped out of the box, declaring, "As expected of a fellow kage descendant, you found me out!"

"Huh?" Naruto asked, feigning ignorance. Felix had clearly decided to bug out, because he was gone. He must not have wanted anything to do with whatever Naruto had been plotting when re-meeting the younger version of himself.

"I am Konohamaru Sarotobi, the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, the hero who gave his life to save the village from the Kyuubi attack!"

"I don't care who you are, why are you following me?"

"You are already a ninja! I want to be your apprentice, since you are the son of the Yondaime Hokage! Then, once I am strong enough, I can become Hokage myself and prove I am more than just a big man's grandkid!"

Yep, this was the same kid who reminded Naruto so much of himself. Naruto grinned and said, "All right, I will teach you a few things but they will be just a few pranks at first."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because, you shouldn't take the fact that you are still a kid for granted, have fun with it for a while. Plus it actually will be good for learning to be a ninja, because it helps you with your creativity and trap setting in some ways, not to mention the fact that you will learn how to run very fast when escaping angry victims." Konohamaru was grinning evilly as he understood what Naruto was telling him and Naruto clinched it when he said, "Besides, you want to build your own reputation, right? What's wrong with the rep of a jokester?"

…..

"Damn it Naruto, what kind of godson are you?!" Jiraiya wept as his doom approached. He had had the misfortune to be in town at the time, and Naruto and Konohamaru were laughing their asses off, having set a booby trap that not only let the kunoichi Naruto knew that his godfather would be spying on know he was there, but also caught him in a net with some basic chakra suppressing seals, so he would not be able to get away from his punishment (Naruto was teaching his new/old apprentice the value of knowing your target).

"The kind that enjoys making his family suffer a little, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto cackled as Konohamaru laughed harder at the nickname. "He's all yours, ladies!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Jiraiya screamed in anguish as the ticked off women were set on him.

"Not so much a prank as just desserts, but entertaining all the same," Naruto told Konohamaru.

"Since when did you pull a prank without letting me in on it Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he came onto the scene. "Is your new apprentice that much better assistance than me?"

"Nah, I was just trying to give some one-on-one training to this little guy."

"That was so much fun, Naruto-sama!" Konohamaru declared. "Who will we prank next?"

"I think we should first introduce you to Akari, Naruto's sister," Sasuke replied evilly. "That should liven things up quite a bit around here."

"Oh Sasuke," Naruto said with a grin of his own as he imagined the idea of another duo of pranksters plaguing Konoha so soon after the last one had graduated. "That is brilliant. You have learned much, my most faithful accomplice…"

"Don't push it," Sasuke said as the laughing group left Jiraiya to his misery.

"That's not supposed to bend that way!"

…..

"So that's how it is," Itachi said to Felix, the former having just had his memories restored by the latter.

"Yes, and it is very important that you help keep Naruto and his team safe," Felix replied. "Trust me, the very thought of a member of that clan still around is enough to make my blood run cold. If you do come across someone who seems to have that kind of power, RUN. That kind of enemy is beyond you."

"So what's our next step?"

"Last time, Naruto had a mission to the Land of Waves, one that had a great impact on his life. I intend to make sure he has that one again, so he can help two particular people this time around. It will also serve to give that snake in that war two less pawns to manipulate, so we have fewer casualties when the war does come around."

"And what role will I play in that?"

"Naruto will give you an overview of how the last mission went. Meanwhile, activate your Sharingan. I'm going to teach you the Pulse Imprint Jutsu…"

…..

"He should be here any minute now, big brother is not one for being late," Sasuke said while he, Naruto and Hinata waited for their jonin instructor. Sure enough, Itachi soon entered the room.

"Meet me on the roof you three," he said before doing the body flicker.

"Show-off," Sasuke muttered as they headed for the roof.

Once the three of them were sitting on the railing with Itachi standing in front of them, he stated, "So as of today, we are Team 7, so the time has come for us to know each other a little better. I will start. My name is Itachi Uchiha. I like my family, and the friends of my family. I dislike war and pointless fighting. My hobbies include training and embarrassing my little brother. My ultimate goal and dream is to see a lasting peace that does not require painful sacrifices to maintain for the shinobi world. Your turn, Naruto."

"All right, my name is Naruto Namikaze, I like ramen of all kinds, playing jokes with my friend, and I also care a great deal for my friends and family. I dislike the time it takes for ramen to cook, and I really hate the kind of trash who put themselves over their friends and comrades, no, they're lower than trash. My hobbies also include training, as well as plotting my next major joke. My dream is to become the Hokage one day, and my goal is to usher in an era of peace to the shinobi world!"

"A kid after my own heart," Itachi remarked. _"It seems as though my memories of him are accurate."_

Hinata was next. "W-well, my name is Hyuuga Hinata, I like cinnamon rolls. I d-dislike those who a-are unnecessarily cruel to others. My h-hobbies include, well…" She paused, not wanting to let on that she stalked Naruto on a regular basis, trying to understand why he was hated by some of the villagers. Of course, he already knew, but she didn't know that. "Taking w-walks…" she finally said. "My goal and dream is to be a great n-ninja, strong like my f-father and yet kind like my mother w-was."

Sasuke was finally up. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like rice balls. I dislike fan girls. My hobbies are also training, though I also enjoy assisting my friend with his… humorous exploits. I also spend more than what is probably a healthy amount of time praying to Kami that our fan clubs never catch us. My dream is to become a great shinobi like my brother and my goal is to restore the honor that my clan has lost four years ago, regaining the village's respect for our clan."

"Excellent, everyone," Itachi said. "Alright, we go our separate ways for the day, but I want you all up bright and early at training ground 7, because at 6 AM, we start some survival training. And this won't be like the kind you had at the academy, because this will actually determine whether or not you remain genin, or get sent back to the academy for a year. That graduation exam was more of a preliminary test than anything. This final test unfortunately has a failure rate of 66% though I have confidence in you three."

….

The next afternoon in the Hokage's office, Minato listed off the teams of the nameless jonin instructors as they came forward. "Team 6 failed." Minato nodded as the instructor went back to the line and Itachi stepped forward.

"Team 7… passed with flying colors," he proudly announced. "Their teamwork seemed flawless, and Naruto saw through the deception of the two bells almost immediately. They even managed to take them from me near the end. The only potential weak point of the team is Hinata, though that is only because she pulls her punches, not wanting to hurt anybody. I believe all three of them will go far."

Minato nodded, having a hard time holding back his smile. Kurenai came forward. "Team 8… passed, but only just. The problem Lord Hokage is that Sakura girl. She was supposed to be smart, but that clearly only applies to books, and she does nothing but dote on that Sasuke all the time. She actually showed up late to the test, because she did not want to get up early, and she wasted time on her hair! The only reason I passed her is because Kiba and Shino have actually earned the right to be genin, and I couldn't fail her without holding them back as well."

"Well, just continue to work with her, Kurenai," Minato said. "You may have to give her some rude wake-up calls, but I am sure that she has potential in her own right."

Kurenai snorted as she went back into the line, while the rest of the jonin were sure they had their new "Tora Fodder" team as they called it. That cat was always escaping its owner, and was the bane of all genin teams. That particular mission probably pulled in more money than all other D rank missions, with a few C ranks added to the equation combined.

"Team 10 passed," Asuma said proudly. "With near flawless execution of their combos. I think we have the next generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho in the bag. Good call putting them together."

After the remaining teams were announced to have failed, Minato dismissed them, glad that his son and some of his closest friends had passed.

…..

While Naruto had been dreading the nightmare of going through D rank missions again, he had to admit that it did not seem that bad this time around. For some reason, Team 8 was getting the dreaded capture Tora much more than they were. Sasuke seemed to take some vindictive pleasure in seeing one of his head fan girls covered in scratches all the time. The only really big pain they dealt with was cleaning the Hokage monument. Apparently, Konohamaru and Akari had heard about the incident in the past, and were inspired, doing it almost exactly as he and Sasuke had done. The only difference was that Konohamaru had made the mistake of making the Kushina design look a little fat. He was still recovering from when she had gotten her hands on him.

"Whose idea was it to introduce those two again?" Naruto growled as he continued to scrub at the paint covered stone.

"You went along with it," Sasuke replied defensively.

The D ranks aside, Team 7 was spending a lot of time training with each other, Sasuke and Naruto improving fast, the latter almost having Hiraishin down, if only he could just stop going way off course. Once, he managed to get about a mile away from where he had placed the seal, and landed right on the trigger for a booby trap that Konohamaru and Akari had set up for the former's annoying tutor, Ebisu.

The villagers would forever remember the amusing sight of a smelly goo covered blonde chasing his apprentice and sister all over the village bellowing for their blood. Going way off course aside, at least he was successful in doing the teleporting in the first place.

Sasuke was practicing his fire style techniques and taijutsu, as well as some of the more skilled maneuvers with kunai and shuriken that Itachi had already mastered. He and Naruto were also trying to help get Hinata out of her shell a little bit, with limited success. Of course there was one memorable incident where Sasuke had tried to provoke a little bit of fight from her by saying that she would get what you should never call a girl or an Akimichi if you were accustomed to living painlessly if she did not lay off the cinnamon rolls. Big mistake. It had taken the Uchiha about five hours to regain full feeling his extremities when the normally shy Hyuuga went Kushina on him.

Itachi had decided to start them on their elemental affinity training early and had "found out" that Sasuke actually had a lightning type, with Hinata being a water type. He had already known about Sasuke's interesting affinity, but no one else but Naruto and Felix were aware of his restored memories. Hinata was already learning many decent water style jutsus, including the Water Style: Water Whip, which she showed great skill with, while Itachi had started trying to teach Sasuke the Chidori, which he had learned from Kakashi. So far, Sasuke was making good progress.

He couldn't really do much for Naruto's wind style, but had a few earth techniques for him. Needless to say, Naruto mastered them somewhat effortlessly. Other than that, Itachi had been training both Naruto and Sasuke in kenjutsu. They were far from proficient yet, but they were advancing fast. At least they should be able to handle most low class thugs with sword skill alone.

Finally, the day had arrived for the Wave mission. As Team Itachi stood in front of Minato, the Hokage stated, "It is my understanding that all three of you have made excellent progress with your training over the past few weeks. Itachi has expressed confidence in your abilities and has recommended you all for a C rank mission."

"With all due respect Yondaime-sama," Iruka interjected, ignoring the death glare he was getting from Sasuke. "Isn't it a little early for this, regardless of their ability? They have barely been out of the academy for a month, and only have a few D ranks under their belt. I know you want to see Naruto go far, but-"

"While it normally is early for a C rank Iruka-san," Itachi said. "It is not unheard of for greater abilities to mean getting promotions and higher ranking missions sooner than normal. I can attest to this, being a jonin at my young age. I assure you, my team is already close to, if not at low-chunin level. They are ready for this."

"Thank you, Itachi," Minato said. "As I was saying, Team 7, I am going to assign you three with the protection of an individual from the land of Waves. Send him in." With that, the doors opened and a very familiar old man came into the room.

"Eh, this is all?" Tazuna asked, taking a swig of his sake. "Three brats, and a barely of age teacher as well? The girl in particular looks like she will pass out at the first sign of danger." Hinata blushed furiously.

Before Tazuna even spotted movement, he had a blonde who was very annoyed at his comment against Hinata behind him, with his rather short blade at his neck. Itachi sighed and said sternly, "Naruto, please don't kill our client before our mission even begins."

"Sorry Itachi-sensei," Naruto said though he did not move Arashikatta from Tazuna's neck. "I wasn't going to kill him. I just wanted to show him that if you insult a ninja or his comrades, your insurance had better be good." And with that, he was back in place with his sword sheathed, again, before Tazuna could blink.

_"Damn, that midget is fast,"_ a rather pale Tazuna thought._ "I almost crapped myself. I might survive this mission after all."_

….

Soon after that, the team was on the road, with Itachi and Tazuna giving a lecture to the team on the Waves, just like last time, with a few obvious differences, being two different people present and all. Soon enough, they passed a familiar puddle. Naruto and Itachi locked eyes, the latter giving a nod and falling behind. As the puddle was passed, the Demon Brothers made their appearance from it and leapt into action. Within a moment, they had Itachi wrapped up in their chains.

"One down," one of them declared as they pulled the chains tighter, dicing up Itachi.

"Itachi-sensei!" Hinata and Naruto (the latter acting) cried out, while Sasuke shouted, "Big brother!"

"Four to go," the other Demon Brother stated. Naruto was prepared, remembering that they had come for him last time after dealing with Kakashi. But this time, they went for a different seeming weak link in the team: Hinata. As the chain between them approached her, she just froze, just as Naruto had done last time.

_"Shit!" _he thought, dashing to her defense. He came between her and the chain, his hand going for the hilt of Arashikatta. The Demon Brothers both smirked, confident that he wouldn't get the blade out in time, when Naruto pulled the ninjato out of the longer sheathe and brought the edge down on the chain, a split second before it touched him. Arashikatta easily severed the link it hit, causing both halves of the chain to pass harmlessly by him and Hinata.

She was able to snap of her shock at that that moment, and immediately dashed at one of the Brothers, who was off balance, having expected to land in a different manner. Before he knew what was happening, she had already struck him with several Jyuken strikes, knocking him senseless. The other Brother had landed next to Sasuke, who wasted no time whipping his sword out and impaling the missing nin through the shoulder with it and piercing the trunk of a tree, pinning him to it.

"Excellent work you three," Itachi said as he came out of hiding, ignoring the cries of "you're ok!" from the team. "Sorry I scared and ditched you like that, but they only got a substitution of me," he pointed at the diced log. "I was interested to see how you three would handle this situation, which is why I held back, ready to jump in, if needed."

"Lazy ass," Sasuke muttered darkly.

"But there was another good reason," Itachi continued. "I wanted to be sure who their target was. While I have made many enemies, if it was me they were after, they would have just fled the moment was dead, and they had lost the element of surprise. None of you three have ever left the village, so that leaves you. Something you haven't told us, Tazuna?"

Said old man fidgeted, trying frantically to come up with a good cover story before finally saying, "Alright, I'll tell you everything…" And with that he explained that a multi-millionaire named Gato had basically put a stranglehold on the economy of the land of Waves, putting most of its citizens in poverty. Morale was low, and the man was surrounded by his thugs, which kept the people from getting to him. The bridge Tazuna was building was the only hope of having a trading route that Gato did not yet control, and Gato was sending assassins after him for this reason. Tazuna and the other citizens of the Wave were unfortunately too poor to afford anything beyond a C rank mission, which was why Tazuna had withheld the full story.

"I see," Itachi said after Tazuna had finished. "All right, we'll continue to help you." This statement shocked Tazuna, Sasuke and Hinata, though Naruto was pleased. "Even though our team is a genin team, and you only paid for a C rank when this mission is now clearly a B rank at least, we are not the kind of people who abandon others who need aid. Not only that, but I have seen these three perform quite well, and dispatched our two friends here easily, and they were supposed to be chunin level. And anything they can't handle I am sure I should be able too.

"After all, rogue ninja are generally expensive to hire. From what I heard about Gato, he would be unwilling to buy the services of any more than he thought he needed. If we get the bridge built fast enough, before Gato realizes his first attempt has failed and has a chance to hire more skilled assassins, we may be able to complete this mission without any more ninja after us."

"I'm up for it," Sasuke said.

"M-me too," Hinata said.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto declared, looking at Itachi, glad that the latter could act well and was following the plan so far.

"Besides, I don't think Naruto would let me hear the end of it otherwise," Itachi deadpanned while thinking about the hard part yet to come. "If we tried to return to the village, he would probably try to help you himself."

…

That night on the road, after leaving the Demon Brothers tied up they had set up camp with Itachi taking the first watch. As Naruto tossed in his bed roll, he noticed one of the others was empty and frowned.

…

Hinata was afraid. While she understood Itachi's logic, there was a chance he was wrong, and that they would have to deal with stronger foes next time. Not only that, but there was still what had happened before.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked as he came up to her, causing her to jump a little. "Something the matter?"

"I-I'm worried about the mission N-Naruto-kun," she replied. "What if Itachi-sensei is wrong, and there will be more ninja after us?"

"Then we can take them. We beat the Demon Brothers pretty easily, and even if we get more difficult foes later on, we have Itachi-sensei."

"T-that was mainly you and Sasuke who b-beat them. I nearly got killed, because I was too scared to d-do anything."

"It happens to rookies Hinata. I am actually impressed that you snapped out of it on time to help."

"But don't you see?" Hinata asked, starting to cry. "It was only because you were able to save me then Naruto. I might freeze again, and put you and the others in danger. And I don't want to hurt people either, which is another thing that will make me hesitate when I can't afford it. I'm scared, and weak and I'm not fit to be a ninja. I-"

SLAP

Naruto hated to strike Hinata, but he knew from experience that sometimes a slap was needed to snap someone at their lowest back to reality, something that Hinata had ironically been the one to teach him. Shocked, she looked at him, holding her cheek. Naruto grabbed her wrist to pull her hand away before gently putting his own to the spot, gazing intensely into her eyes as she had done that time.

"Listen to me Hinata. You are NOT weak. What happened there was only due to your inexperience and was a onetime thing that we came out of. And don't you dare think of your kindness as a weakness. Being cruel does not make one strong, nor does being kind make you weak. Itachi-sensei is a good example of this. He is one of the strongest people I know, and yet he never treats anyone harshly, not unless they deserve it, and only kills when there is absolutely no other way. You can be like this too, Hinata. I know it."

Hinata gazed back into Naruto's eyes for a moment before she sniffed and said, "You're right Naruto-kun. I-I will get stronger, and I won't be a burden to you anymore."

Naruto pulled her into an embrace and said, "You could never be a burden to me Hinata." They enjoyed the moment before Naruto stiffened and sighed, "All right, Sasuke, come out and bring that camera with you.

Aaaaand the moment was ruined.

**A/N: I have an excellent number of reviews still coming in, please keep it up, I don't update on a daily basis for nothing! I want at least a 7.5 average per chapter by the time I post number 20! **

**By the way, I have a new poll on my profile, which I am working on. The question is which of six characters will engage Raizen in a three on one battle later in the series. The three with the most votes will be the ones I use. I also intend to put a few bios of my OCs later on there.**

**Again, read, enjoy and review!**


	10. Chapter 9: Blazing Crow vs Bloody Demon

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Zabuza and Haku make their appearance in this chapter. How will things go down this time? **

**Chapter 9: Blazing Crow vs Bloody Demon**

They were told to be as quiet as possible on the boat, something that Naruto and Hinata were all too glad for. Sasuke was not letting them hear the end of what had happened between them the previous night, and had the photos primed for blackmail. Both Naruto and Hinata were planning to secretly burn those photos at the first opportunity. Most likely when Sasuke was sleeping.

Itachi had turned away from the rest of the party, facing the waters and discreetly focusing some chakra into the palm of his hand. A spark emerged from it and he smiled. _"I've pretty much got it down," _He thought with some satisfaction. _"This Pulse Imprint Jutsu does not require much chakra, but the control is very important. I don't want to kill him by mistake…"_

The boat pulled up to the dock, and they departed. There was still some distance between them and Tazuna's home.

….

The air somewhere else in the Land of Waves cracked like it was glass, and two figures stepped out of the resulting rift. The first was a tall blue skinned man with a shark-like face and a large sword wrapped in bandages strapped to his back. His attire was a set of black robes with red cloud designs. The other figure was nearly as tall, but that was the only feature that was not obscured by his attire, which was made up of black gloves, boots, and completely black robes, with the hood's shadow completely obscuring the face.

"That method of travel you guys use is useful, but I thought that we weren't ready to seal the tailed beasts yet?" Kisame asked the man next to him. "So why are we going after this one already?"

"Lord Raizen has reason to believe that the host of the Kyuubi has been getting stronger at an alarming rate," the cloaked man replied in a deep voice without so much as a twitch. "If we were to wait to capture him, our chances of succeeding would decrease. Since this is the first time he will be out of the village, this is going to be our best chance at taking him. Besides, even if we are forced to kill him, the Kyuubi should reform by the time we need it if we move now."

"Hmph, I still don't see why I have to be partnered with you. You are not even a full member of the Akatsuki, you just work under one who is."

"Because Lord Raizen has complete confidence in my abilities and trustworthiness, which is more than your leader can say for most of your members, especially after the stunt the one called Orochimaru pulled when he possessed the body of one of my comrades and fled your organization."

"That was his actions alone. Not the organization as a whole."

The cloaked man did not respond to this, preferring to simply walk towards their destination.

….

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Bloody Mist, " Itachi said in a neutral tone as the swordsman stood casually on the handle of Kubikiribocho, which was embedded into the tree it had hit when the team had avoided it. "It is an honor to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Itachi Uchiha, Blazing Crow of Konoha," Zabuza replied as Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke fell into a defensive position around Tazuna. "I see it is no wonder the Demon Brothers failed."

**"They were truly insults to the Demon name," **Kurama snorted from within Naruto. **"Of course, this fellow is much worthier of the title."**

"Everyone, get back," Itachi said as Zabuza jumped back down, grabbing the handle of his large sword and pulling it free as he went. "This man is far beyond any genin, even you three. Before he was even an academy student of Kirigakure, he was able to slaughter an entire year of students without any mercy. Keep Tazuna safe!"

"So you've heard about our little graduation exercise," Zabuza said as he raised one arm and cast a hand sign with the other. "Hiding in the Mist Jutsu!"

"Be on your guard!" Itachi shouted to his team with the mist gathering thickly and obscuring Zabuza. "Zabuza Momochi is the greatest known master of the Silent Killing Technique. If you relax for even an instant, you will be dead before you even know you slipped up!"

After he had said that, a massive amount of killing intent hit the team and Tazuna, causing Hinata, Sasuke and Tazuna to freeze in mortal terror, and even Naruto shivered, and they heard Zabuza's voice from somewhere within the mist. "8 points of instant death…liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart…which one should I go for?"

"I can't speak for me, Hinata or the old fart," Naruto said, despite the atmosphere they were in. "But you should go for Sasuke's brain, he does not use it much anyway." The shock of Naruto actually cracking a joke under the killing intent caused Sasuke and Hinata to snap out of their stupor, Sasuke having almost stabbed himself out of fear. Somehow, Naruto's relatively calm demeanor seemed to instantly calm his companions. One of the things Felix had taught Naruto is that those who you are close to are sensitive to your thoughts. If you are calm, they will be more likely to be calm, whereas if you are panicking, odds are they will be as well. An attitude, both good and bad was infectious.

"Hmm, I see that a genin already has the will to resist my killing intent. Let's see if you have the skills to match!"

"Behind us!" Hinata shouted, having had the presence of mind to activate her Byakugan to spot Zabuza. Indeed, Zabuza had gotten among them and was swinging his blade at Tazuna. Naruto reacted fast, coming between Zabuza and Tazuna and drawing Arashikatta an instant sooner than Zabuza would have expected. He managed to block Kubikiribocho at the last possible moment. Of course, even though he had trained harshly, his body was still that of a twelve year old's so without Sage Mode he ended up being thrown back very hard against a tree by the man's brute strength. He did manage to slow the attack though, just enough for Hinata and Sasuke to get Tazuna to safety.

"Ooooh," Zabuza said with interest. "No wonder I was spotted, you have a Hyuuga brat among you. It must be my lucky day, it seems you are a member of the Main house. Not only that but you have another Uchiha with a Sharingan as well. And then there's you…" He turned to Naruto who sheathed Arashikatta and made a Shadow Clone while glaring at Zabuza. "Not only where you able to withstand my killing intent at full blast and help your teammates do the same, but you are fast, and that blade being shorter than its sheath to allow for faster drawing than an opponent would anticipate. That gives you a good shot at ending most battles quickly… and a Shadow Clone to boot! It is actually a shame I will have to kill you three, you would have been almost worthy of the title of ninja if you had some experience…"

"Damn!" Itachi shouted as he tried to rush to his team's aid, only to be stopped by _another _Zabuza.

"Now, now Itachi, don't interrupt them, let the brats play with my Water Clone a little. Besides, I would like to fight you a little, one on one…"

"Be careful what you wish for! Fire Style! Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Itachi shouted as he launched the large inferno at Zabuza, who dodged, only for Itachi to move with blinding speed and impale him with his katana. Before Itachi could celebrate, Zabuza dissolved into water.

"I'm not that easy," Zabuza said as he stabbed Itachi through the heart from behind with a kunai, only for Itachi to dissolve into crows and reform beside the demon, already forming signs for his next fire style attack.

"Neither am I."

"Naruto, be careful!" Sasuke shouted, watching his friend form a Rasengan with assistance from his clone, to Zabuza's surprise. _"Wait, why is Naruto using a clone to form the Rasengan? I thought he did not need to do that anymore…wait…"_

_"He can form the Rasengan?"_ Zabuza's Water Clone thought, intrigued._ "That's a high level technique, made by the Yondaime Hokage… I see, this brat is his son, though he clearly can't use the technique without an extra set of hands, at least not yet. Still, to be able to use it at all at that age… Perhaps I shouldn't kill him… I could probably make a decent amount of money if I took him alive and returned him to Konoha for a price…"_

"Don't worry Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "Water Clones only have about 10% of the original's power! I should be able to handle it! You and Hinata just keep him away from the geezer!" With that he dispelled his clone and charged the water clone.

"Pathetic," Zabuza said, not even bothering to dodge, instead swinging Kubikiribocho at Naruto, hitting him with the side and flinging him back again, the Rasengan dispersing as the boy lost his concentration. "It's over for you!" the water clone shouted as he dashed forward sword raised to strike the potential cash cow unconscious rather than kill him. Naruto recovered quickly, though not quickly enough, or so Zabuza thought. With a smirk, the blonde formed another Rasengan and charged again, causing the Water Clone's eyes to widen in horror. _"He can actually do the technique one-handed? He _let_ me think he needed a clone to do it, so I would underestimate him! I should have expected such a trick, especially after seeing his sword!"_

"Rasengan!" Naruto cried as he slammed the sphere into the Water Clone's unprotected torso, causing the water it was made of to fly all over the place.

"N-Naruto-kun did it…" Hinata said, amazed.

"I'm not surprised," Sasuke replied. "He always was a little unpredictable…"

"Quite impressive brats you lead Itachi," the original Zabuza said as he dodged another swipe from Itachi's katana. "The blonde in particular has earned a place in my bingo book if he survives."

"That's assuming _you_ survive, Zabuza," Itachi replied, dissolving into crows again, following being sliced in half by Kubikiribocho.

"That trick is very annoying!" Zabuza growled, swinging again at the point where Itachi reformed. Itachi ducked under the blade, and stabbed forward. Zabuza dodged, but got kicked in the gut by a follow-up attack. Zabuza flipped to recover, and cast a few hand signs. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!" From the water, a massive dragon rose, only to be met by another, Itachi having copied the technique with his Sharingan. Both attacks canceled each other out.

Before Zabuza could try again, he spotted Itachi casting several fast hand signs. "Fire Style: Pheonix Flower Jutsu!" Several small balls of fire were launched at Zabuza, who laughed.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" A wall of water rose between the swordsman and the flames, causing them to be extinguished on impact… but doing nothing about the shuriken and kunai Itachi had thrown hidden in them. All of them hit Zabuza full force, all of them in painful but not fatal areas. "Blast it," Zabuza growled as he backed up fast to avoid Itachi's next dash, only to slam into a tree that Itachi had hidden in a genjutsu. He was stabbed through the gut, again non-fatally and pinned to the tree by the katana, which Itachi released and started forming hand signs.

"It's over for you," Itachi said as he breathed in to launch a fire style jutsu to finish the job. Before he could however, two senbon came from the trees and pierced through Zabuza's neck "killing" him instantly. Itachi smirked. _"So far so good."_

"I must thank you for giving me the chance to strike," a masked hunter nin said, jumping down from hiding. "I have been tailing the man for weeks, but did not have an opportunity until now."

"W-what just happened?" Hinata asked, staring with shock at the masked ninja.

"It seems as though our friend here decided to help finish the job for us," Itachi answered as he retrieved his katana, caught Zabuza's body as it fell, before bending down, and under the guise of checking to ensure he was dead, he used his body to conceal the head from everyone else's line of sight. He gripped the head, cast a single sign with the other hand and said quietly, "Pulse Imprint Jutsu." Once that was done, he slipped a note between Zabuza's head and the cloth of his headband._ "There, now all I have to do is hope I did not kill him by mistake." _ He rose and said to the hunter nin, "I take it you are a hunter ninja, deployed by Kirigakure to dispose of Zabuza to prevent him from revealing any village secrets, that correct?"

"You are indeed correct," the masked ninja replied as he picked up Zabuza's body. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must dispose of the body." With that, he vanished.

Itachi frowned and, acting like he was missing something, muttered, "Odd."

"Um… big brother?" Sasuke asked tentatively, once they were on the road again. "Why would a Kirigakure hunter nin be after Zabuza, I mean, why would a Kirigakure ninja of Zabuza's standing reveal village secrets."

"Because he became a missing nin after attempting to stage a failed coup d'état against Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage," Itachi replied, causing Sasuke to frown. After what had happened over four years ago, the term coup d'état was a sore subject for him. "What confuses me is why the masked ninja would lug the body away like that when it is standard procedure to dispose of the body immediately. It's almost like…Shit!" His eyes widened as though he was just realizing something. Once again, Naruto found himself mentally applauding Itachi's acting skills.

"We've been duped, haven't we?" said blonde grumbled, his own acting ability having improved thanks to Felix insisting on it over the past twelve years, to avoid blowing their cover.

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked, clearly stumped.

"It appears as if our mysterious assistant only pretended to kill Zabuza for us, and helped him escape," Itachi growled, faking frustration as Sasuke's, Hinata's and Tazuna's eyes widened extremely fast.

"B-but, didn't you m-make sure he was d-d-dead, Itachi-sensei?" Hinata asked fearfully.

"Yes, he lacked a pulse, that was for sure. But the tool used to "kill" him was senbon, which needs to be very precise to kill. Anyone with the skill to do so, and enough extra medical knowledge can instead put their target in a near-death state, one that can fool even some of the best medic ninja. I can't believe I didn't realize sooner!"

"So what do we do, Sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, fortunately, it will take some time for Zabuza to recover, about a week, which will give us some time to prepare, now that we know who we're up against. Hopefully, that was the best ninja Gato could hire, there are not many missing nin with reputations like Zabuza's. With luck, he'll be forced to wait for Zabuza to recover before he can make is move. You all handled yourselves very well, and with a little more training for the next week, we should have a fighting chance when the time comes."

….

"First, I should cut the bandages from his mouth to let the blood flow out, and then…" Haku muttered to himself as he reached for Zabuza's face, a pair of surgical scissors in hand to cut said bandages. Before he could however, Zabuza's hand snapped up to grab Haku's wrist.

"Enough, I'll do it myself," Zabuza said as he pulled the bandages from his mouth and moved to spit the blood from it.

"Awake already I see."

"You sure can be brutal," Zabuza muttered as he pulled the senbon from his neck in a rough manner. Then he suffered a sense of Déjà Vu, as a burst of pain flared through his head, all the memories of the future and the different version of the past where he had fought Kakashi returning full force now that he was conscious again.

"Zabuza-sama, what's wrong?" Haku asked as the older man clutched his head with his right hand. "I've told you to be careful with pulling those out, if you've gone and done something permanent to yourself…"

"I'm fine, Haku, just… give me a minute." Haku frowned and nodded, still concerned for his surrogate father. Zabuza growled as the pain receded. "Haku, did Itachi do something to me before you got me out of there?"

Haku frowned and said, "Nothing that I am aware of, except when he checked to make sure you were dead…" His eyes widened. "But then he seemed to make sure he was hiding your head from view…"

"Whatever he did, it seems to be a very elaborate genjutsu that implants false memories. I remember fighting the Copy Ninja Kakashi instead of him in the same situation, the Hyuuga girl being replaced by a pink-haired brat, the blonde not nearly as competent as before, though he did still manage to pull one on me when I trapped Kakashi. Then, I remember acting the exact same way I did when I woke up before the memories came, though that can be explained by another effect of the genjutsu.

"But the weird thing is, it gave me "memories" of events after this. I don't know how he could do that unless he knew about you, because I remember fighting Kakashi again with you with me, and they included everything about you, your name, your fighting style, even your mannerisms. We lost, somehow you to that Uchiha and blonde brats, the blonde showing some kind of hidden power and me to Kakashi, and only surviving when you took a fatal blow for me." Haku's eyes widened at this. "I continued to fight, only for Kakashi to disable my arms, followed by me getting backstabbed by Gato and his thugs, though I managed to murder the little midget before I died, after the blonde… said a few things to me that made me cry over your death…"

Haku frowned and said, "That is an odd genjutsu, and no doubt very potent."

"I'm not even done yet. After that, a few years later, some sick bastard restored us to life with a forbidden jutsu, along with several other dead people and used us to fight a war, in which we fought against Kakashi and some of his allies again, one of them the pink hair I mentioned. After the battle, we were sealed because we couldn't even die again. And one of the weirder parts is that before the battle really got started, I asked about the blonde, and Kakashi had told us that he became a great ninja, and we were the ones who set him on the road to where he was." Zabuza rubbed his head in deep thought, causing him to feel the note Itachi slipped in his headband. Frowning, he pulled it out and opened it. He beckoned to Haku to read over his shoulder, stating shortly, "It's addressed to both of us."

Haku complied, and read, _"To Zabuza and Haku,_

_"You have probably already come to the conclusion that you are under a powerful genjutsu Zabuza, but I assure you that this is not the case. In truth, if your memories have returned, that means the jutsu worked, if not, then I have some explaining to do. Haku, if Zabuza really is dead, that means I accidentally killed him, which also means I need to do some explaining to you. Those memories I mentioned are not false ones, nor are they implanted. The Pulse Imprint Jutsu I used merely restored your memories that were suppressed. This occurred when Naruto and a man named Felix used a powerful fuinjutsu and turned back time."_

Both Haku and Zabuza's eyes widened at this before narrowing as they continued, _"As unbelievable as this sounds, think about this: how did we know about Haku, and how she fights?" _Haku and Zabuza snorted. Apparently Itachi, for they were sure that he was the one who wrote the letter was unaware of Haku's true gender. _"If I had used the Pulse Imprint Jutsu to view your memories, which I could have done, I would have needed much more time to come up with the details if it was a genjutsu. That should prove that the memories were already there. All I know about you two was told to me by Naruto, who remembers everything about the future. If I was trying to lure you into a trap, I could have just killed you two after Haku's stunt so there would have been no need. _

_"More will be explained by me and Narutoat a place Haku and he met while she was gathering herbs. I can restore her memories as well, and we can discuss our future options._

_"-Itachi Uchiha."_

Zabuza groaned as he read the last of the letter. This was going to lead to a massive headache later, though not as bad as the previous one, hopefully. "Well, Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked. "What should we do?"

"I think that we should at least hear them out. Too many pieces fit into place to disregard this."

….

"And that is our plan for the next week," Itachi finished while they were eating their meal at Tazuna's, inhaling in Naruto's case. He had just told them that Naruto and Sasuke would train together every day, with Naruto trying to finish the Hiraishin with Sasuke working on the Chidori. Itachi, Hinata and a Shadow Clone of Naruto would accompany Tazuna to the bridge. Hinata would be Tazuna's bodyguard and use her Byakugan to regularly check for danger. At the first sign of trouble, the Shadow Clone was to dispel and Naruto and Sasuke would come running as fast as they could.

"What's the point? You are all just going to die if you fight Gato," Tazuna's grandson Inari stated as he entered the room. "You are better off if you just run, you'll live longer that way."

"And just who are you?" Naruto demanded as the boy's mother, Tsunami chided him for lacking confidence in the group protecting Tazuna.

"Hmph, I'm going back to my room," Inari said sullenly. "There's no point talking with people who are signing their own death warrants. What's the point of fighting when you are only going to get killed?"

As Inari left, Tazuna said, "You'll have to excuse the boy. He has never been the same since that day…"

"That day?" Itachi asked.

Tazuna nodded and proceeded to explain about Inari's stepfather, Kaiza, who had been a village hero ever since he saved Inari from drowning, and helped the village weather a flood. When Gato had come, Kaiza had tried to stand up to him, but had only been publicly executed. "Ever since, Inari had lost his faith in the world," Tazuna finished. "He no longer believes that heroes exist."

"Yeah, well I'll prove him wrong," Naruto said moodily as he left the house.

Itachi sighed and said, "Better help him if he's going to train. You two stay here and hold down the fort."

….

"What took you so long?" Naruto asked as Haku came into view. Itachi was leaning back against a tree.

"You are Naruto, yes?" Haku asked. "What exactly are you going to explain to me?"

"Well, first, you should let Itachi restore you memories."

Haku nodded and stepped towards Itachi, who placed his hand on the boy's head, cast the hand sign and said, "This is going to hurt quite a bit, believe me, I know."

"It's okay," Haku said. "I'm prepared."A few minutes later, Haku got up rubbing his head, saying, "I guess Zabuza-sama wasn't being a baby."

"Sorry about that. I don't exactly take much pleasure in causing a young lady such as yourself pain."

"Oh, about that," Haku chuckled as Naruto let an evil grin show. "I'm actually a boy."

Itachi paled and said, "What? But you-" He whipped towards Naruto and asked, "And why didn't you tell me this?"

"And miss the look on your face Itachi-sensei? I thought you knew me."

"I'll remember this…"

Naruto and Haku laughed at Itachi's embarrassment before Haku asked, "So what next?"

Naruto paused and said, "Well, there is really no reason for you to start another coup against Yagura, he is no longer Mizukage. Am I correct in guessing that you and Zabuza started it because you knew he was was being controlled?"

"Yes, and I normally would be surprised that you would know that, but after the time travel story, you probably found out a lot of things."

"Yeah, well you don't need to do anything anymore, and it was Felix who had found out after doing a little research on the subject. Zabuza was rather loyal before Yagura started acting up, so it wasn't hard to deduce. The new Mizukage is not being manipulated, so there is no need to try again."

"So I guess Zabuza-sama and I need a new goal in life. It's not like we can go back"

"How about helping to stop the bastards who caused this trouble in the first place? Once we make sure you two survive this, you can go about it anyway you choose."

"Maybe…do you think Konoha has room for two more ninja?"

** A/N: Next chapter we'll see a battle between Zabuza, Itachi and Haku vs. Kisame, and Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke vs. a mystery OC from the Elder Dimension, and the chapter will be titled Secrets and Shattered Memories.**

**Sorry, Femhaku fans, but I did not feel like changing Kishimoto's original idea for the character, other than sparing him. Besides, there are way too many possibilities for humor this way to pass up, heh heh…let's just say Kiba is going to be veeery embarrassed later.**

**Please. Review!**


	11. Chapter 10: Shattered Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Zabuza may be seen in a new light, and the battle on the bridge comes to an end, but what happens next?**

**Chapter 10: Secrets and Shattered Memories**

"Do you really think that the Hidden Leaf Village will accept us Haku?" Zabuza asked from his recovery bed. "There is a question of whether or not I am trustworthy, especially after the incident that gave me my moniker."

"Zabuza-sama, you really need to stop beating yourself up about that," Haku replied comfortingly. "Even if you could have done a better job controlling your temper, it was not your fault."

Zabuza did not reply as he sadly thought about the past.

_Flashback_

_As a child, Zabuza was frantically running from the angry group of villagers he had just stolen food from. He had been an orphan shortly after being born, and had hated life at the orphanage, resulting in him leaving, preferring an equally hard life on the streets. He turned a corner and slammed into another boy, causing them both to fall over backwards, the loaves of bread Zabuza had in his arms flying free. The boy Zabuza had knocked over looked at him in slight annoyance before frowning and grabbing Zabuza's arm, pulling him into an alley. The villagers ran by, oblivious to where their quarry was hiding._

_"Why did you just help me?" Zabuza asked._

_"You're the kid who is always on his own right?" the boy asked. "I helped you because I had just recently learned a little on what that was like."_

_"What do you mean? You have parents don't you?"_

_"Yeah, but they have been ignoring me, ever since I was…selected. You are aware that the recent host of the Sanbi was killed? As soon as it is revived, the village will recapture it. Once that occurs, I will be made into its new Jinchuriki. Even my friends at the academy have been distant from me after they heard."_

_"I see. I'm sorry about that. Thank you for your help by the way, my name is Zabuza Momochi."_

_"Yagura."_

_Since that day, Zabuza and Yagura had been fast friends. It had been a few months afterwards when Zabuza went to the academy to check up on Yagura. He had never been interested in being a ninja, for he did not want to serve the very village that had done so little for him. As he entered the academy grounds however, a sight that would forever be burned into his retinas greeted him. His first and only friend was in a fetal position, being kicked and beaten by his entire year of fellow students. With a surge of rage, Zabuza noted that Yagura had a very deep cut under his left eye, likely inflicted by a kunai._

_"You're gonna be a monster, you know that!?"_

_"Beast, why don't you just die?"_

_"We're doing ya a favor, puttin' ya out of your misery!"_

_Zabuza shivered uncontrollably. Before he even knew what he was doing, he had walked up to one of the training dummies and pulled a kunai loose from it before rushing the mob of academy students in a blind rage. After the resulting bloodbath, Zabuza was kneeling over Yagura, who was unconscious from the beating, but still breathing. Zabuza sighed in relief before he saw again the results of his handiwork. _

_"Kami, what have I done?" Zabuza asked himself before keeling over and losing his lunch. Afterwards, he had rushed Yagura to the hospital, and the Sandaime Mizukage offered Zabuza a place as a Kiri shinobi, and named him a candidate for the Seven Ninja Swordsman in recognition of his abilities. Though initially tempted to refuse, Zabuza decided that it was his best shot at getting stronger, so he could make sure no one ever laid a finger on the only one he cared for again. _

_The cut under Yagura's eye had required stitches, despite the best efforts of the medics and left a permanent scar. About a year later, he had grown much stronger and was named the Yondaime Mizukage after the death of the Sandaime, though both he and Zabuza recognized this as an attempt by the village council to control Yagura. This failed because Yagura refused to be a puppet and his first act in office had been to order the discontinuation of the bloody graduation exercise. Many assassinations were attempted, but Zabuza, having been made one of the Seven Swordsmen by Yagura, proved very good at preventing these attempts._

_A few months later, the Sanbi returned earlier than expected and was recaptured and sealed within the young Mizukage. Zabuza had reassured Yagura that he would be his friend regardless. After all, they were both considered "demons" now. _

_End Flashback_

But after that, Yagura had begun to act strangely. It did not take Zabuza long to realize that he was not himself and that someone was controlling him. When Zabuza tried to stage his coup, he was trying to get to the bastard who was using his friend as his puppet. He had almost succeeded in at least finding out who the bastard was, but a new member of the Seven Swordsmen, Kisame, was in cahoots with the man, and prevented Zabuza's coup from working.

Now he knew that Yagura was dead, and that the one who was behind it all was using the name of Madara Uchiha. Zabuza gripped the covers in silent rage. _"Soon Madara, Kisame,"_Zabuza thought. _ "I will make you both pay dearly for the crimes you have committed. I will not let this second chance go to waste, and I will see Yagura avenged, this I swear!"_

….

"Yes!" Naruto shouted in jubilation having just attempted Hiraishin again. "Only ten feet away from the sealed kunai this time!"

"That's great, Naruto," Sasuke's voice said from somewhere off screen. "But before you celebrate your improvements, HOW ABOUT GETTING OFF OF ME!**(A/N: I love the classic teleporting on top of some poor sap gag, they never see it coming on time)**"

"Oh, whoops, sorry," Naruto replied as he hastily got up. It was the final day before the battle of the bridge would occur, and their training was nearing its end. He and Itachi had collaborated with Zabuza and Haku on what would occur this time around. Itachi and Zabuza would fight, but hold back so as to save their strength for Gato and his goons, while Naruto and Sasuke would be kept busy by Haku, until Naruto could convincingly pretend to knock the boy out.

Once Gato and his goons showed up and declared their betrayal, Itachi and Zabuza would take them out, followed by them giving an acted out negotiation before they all returned to the village. It was that simple.

After the day of training was finished, both boys returned to the house for the nights meal, with Itachi telling them that tomorrow was likely the day that Zabuza made his move, so the two would join him and Hinata on the bridge. Again though, Inari said it was pointless, that there was nothing heroic about throwing one's life away.

Naruto had enough once again. He had forgotten just how much Inari's defeatist attitude had pissed him off last time. "Let me tell you something _brat,"_ Naruto growled. "One of the people I look up to was the Sandaime Hokage, and you know how he died? When the Kyuubi attacked my village, he gave his _life_ to defeat him. In doing so, he saved countless others, including those of my parents, who were going to do the same thing. He died protecting something important to him, and you know something? It was not even the slightest bit pointless. Nor was your father's sacrifice. Because of him, we are even more determined to stop Gato, and even your grandfather has not given up yet, even though the odds are stacked against him.

"When you say there are no heroes in this world, you not only insult the Sandaime Hokage, but you insult me as well through him. And worst of all, you insult the man who cared about you, even as he died. You have abandoned the ideals that he tried to pass to you. I have no respect for people with your attitude, and I would rather give my own life for something important, even if it seems like a worthless endeavor, than live knowing that I am a worthless coward. Remember that next time you want to run your mouth at me, you big BABY!"

Inari sobbed at this and ran back upstairs, and Hinata looked at Naruto in shock. "N-Naruto, you went too far! You made him cry!"

"I'm sorry, but he needed to hear that, even if I lost my temper when I told him," Naruto grumbled. "I don't deny that the kid has been through a lot, but that does not give him the right to spit on his stepfather's grave like that." Hinata's expression softened a little. "I'm tired, I'll be in bed." And with that, Naruto got up and left the dining room.

…..

The next day, they were just leaving and Naruto frowned as though he had just thought of something. Wordlessly, he created six Shadow Clones as they left. "What are you doing?" Sasuke asked with a frown.

"Just a hunch," Naruto lied smoothly as his clones hid themselves in the bushes near Tazuna's home.

….

Upon arriving at the bridge, they found all of the workers beaten bloody, but all left alive. "Naruto, Sasuke, you two are with me!" Itachi shouted as Zabuza and Haku came into view, the latter having discarded his mask this time around. "Hinata, protect Tazuna!"

"It is so good to see you again, Blazing Crow," Zabuza stated. "Though the feeling does not seem to be mutual with the brats, they are shaking with fear, poor things." Indeed, both Naruto and Sasuke were shivering as several Water Clones emerged, surrounding the group.

"Ha, we're shivering with anticipation for a rematch!" Both Naruto and Sasuke declared at once. And with that, they attacked, quickly making short work of the Water Clones.

"Well, well, you two seem to have grown up even more already. Haku, entertain them while I have my fun with their Sensei."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied as all fighters faced off with their opponents.

_"So far, so good," _ Naruto thought as he and Sasuke dashed at Haku._"Now I just have to make sure Sasuke does not kill Haku."_

….

"You let my mother go!" Inari shouted at both of Gato's thugs, who had shown up earlier to take Tsunami hostage. They both turned to him as he charged and drew their swords with sadistic grins, only to freeze as the point of a sword emerged from each of their guts.

"You might want to drop your weapons," one of Naruto's Shadow Clones said with a smirk. "Where we stabbed you two was through painful, but not fatal points that are fairly easy to heal. It would not take much more than a twitch on my part to change that." They both immediately complied with the request. "Amazing what having someone at your mercy can do for their cooperation, huh?" the clone chuckled as the other four clones appeared to confiscate the weapons and tie the two up.

"I thought you were at the bridge," Tsunami said as one of the clones just finished with a knot.

"The original is, but he left us around, because he felt something like this would happen," one of them replied. "By the way, Inari, thanks for distracting those two for us. I see that you've pulled your head out of your ass since last night."

"Thanks, Naruto," Inari said, tearing up a little.

…..

"Damn these mirrors!" Sasuke cursed as several more senbon were stabbed into his torso. Despite being able to see Haku's movements, he could barely react to each attack, and Naruto was not faring much better. Meanwhile, Itachi and Zabuza were trading blows, Zabuza appearing to let Itachi have the upper hand. Finally, Haku made a discreet gesture to Naruto, and attacked again. Naruto whipped around as quickly as he could and threw a punch at the oncoming ninja, who allowed the blow to connect to his torso, making it seem like a lucky punch. Haku flew backwards and slammed into one of his own mirrors, and slumped, pretending to be knocked for a loop as the mirrors dissolved.

"I got him," Naruto said, faking shock.

"Nice one Naruto," Sasuke said as the former went to Haku with some cord, looking as though he was going to bind Haku's wrists. "Though it seems that you just happened to punch the exact right place at the exact right time."

_"Any second now…" _Naruto thought as he approached the groaning Haku.

"Gato, what the hell are you doing here?!" Zabuza demanded with Itachi's katana at his neck, as said gnome approached, leading his small army of thugs.

"Well, I got tired of waiting for you to do your job, and it looks like you failed miserably," Gato chuckled. "I wasn't going to pay you and your lackey anyway, you were asking for too much, so let's just say, I'm going to cut expenses."

Itachi frowned and said to Zabuza, "Well, it looks like we have no more reason to fight since you're no longer employed to kill my client. Can we call a truce?"

"Yeah," Zabuza said and Itachi removed his katana. Naruto pretended that he was just coming to the same conclusion and helped Haku to his feet. "Don't worry, I don't hold petty grudges against opponents employed by my targets, it's just business after all, but in the case of people who try to cop out of giving me my due…let's murder a midget."

"Get them!" Gato shouted to his thugs and they all ran forward, ready for a fight. What they got was a slaughter. Itachi and Zabuza easily mowed through them, the latter having use of his arms this time around. Gato never got the chance to get far before Itachi had him in a death grip around the neck and lifted him up. "Please, I'll pay you anything! Just let me go!"

"Oh, I will certainly take your money, for the people you stole it from," Itachi said coldly as his eyes took the shape of a three-point shuriken. "But you have forfeited your life, because even if I were to spare you, I will not defend you from the one you had the stupidity to try to double cross. Tsukuyomi."

Itachi's left eye bled a little as he put Gato in the genjutsu and tortured all of the information he would need to acquire all of the man's money out of him. Once that was done, he dropped the traumatized Gato and used his katana to put him out of his misery.

The bandits simply fled after that, not wanting to fight any more. "Good riddance," Naruto muttered, before grinning at a job well done. That was, until a black cloaked figure suddenly materialized out of nowhere in front of him and slammed his fist into the blonde's gut. Naruto spat out blood and collapsed as the man caught him and put him under his arm, dashing off.

"Naruto!" both Hinata and Sasuke shouted as they dashed after the man.

"Blast!" Itachi cursed as he tried to follow them, but his way was blocked by a bandage-wrapped sword.

"Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Kisame chuckled. "Why don't we have some fun first?"

"KISAME!" Zabuza shouted as he dashed at his most hated enemy, his giant blade raised to strike the shark man down. Kisame backed up, raising his sword to block, causing both blades to lock.

"Well. Well, if it isn't my old friend Zabuza," Kisame grinned as sparks grinded between Kubikiribocho and Samehada. "I never expected to see you again."

"Oh, I actually hoped we would, though I am surprised I have the chance to avenge my friend so soon."

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bullet!" Itachi shouted from behind Kisame, launching said jutsu, forcing both swordsmen to get out of the way, and Itachi launched the Phoenix Flower Jutsu next, at which Kisame simply smirked and blocked with his large sword, which consumed the flames. Haku appeared behind the shark man and pegged him with several senbon, only to watch in horror as they were forced from his body and the punctures healed.

"What?" Haku asked to no one in particular, and backed up next to Itachi and Zabuza. Tazuna decided he would only be in the way, so he simply hid himself.

"Kisame's sword, Samehada, absorbs chakra and he can use it to heal himself," Zabuza explained shortly. "Our best shot is to wound him with weapons and taijutsu. I'm going to engage him, sword to sword. Itachi, it would be best if you backed me up with shuriken and kunai from a distance and used your katana whenever there is an opening. Haku, keep your distance and use senbon on him."

"Heh, come at me then," Kisame chuckled as he raised Samehada into a fighting stance. Zabuza charged with Itachi right behind him, and Haku dashing to the side to find a good angle to attack from.

…

The cloaked man paused in his escape. _"Hmm, it will take me a few minutes to create a dimensional rift with no interruptions,since I have an unwilling passenger, which I am not going to get with the Kyuubi brat's teammates on my heels. I guess I am just going to have to kill them," _he thought as he turned, Naruto groaning weakly.

"Give Naruto back now!" Sasuke demanded as he and Hinata came into view.

"Why don't you make me?" the man mocked. "But then, you would not want me to harm him now would you? If that is the case, you had better back off now."

"Don't try to bluff us! If you were going to kill Naruto, why go to the trouble of trying to kidnap him?"

"It is true, a live capture would be preferable, but our goals can also eventually be accomplished with his death. Care to try me?" the man asked as he held Naruto in a choke hold, prepared to snap his neck in an instant.

"If you harm Naruto, I will kill you!" Hinata declared her features distorted by rage, all her fear forgotten. Sasuke nodded in agreement as he raised a kunai… a particular one.

Naruto grinned and vanished, surprising his would be kidnapper, to reappear next to Sasuke, who was holding the Hiraishin kunai with a smirk, and formed a Rasengan. The man cursed as Naruto used Hiraishin again and appeared right in front of again, having placed one of the seals on the man's cloak. He never had a chance to dodge as the sphere was forced straight into his chest, flinging him back with enough force to blast right through the thick trunk of a tree to lie prone as he landed.

"Gotcha," Naruto said smugly.

"You all right Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "That was quite a blow you took before he tried to take you."

"I'm fine. I may be a Namikaze, but I have Uzumaki blood too, so I have a decent healing factor. He on the other hand should be out of luck."

"Oh, I don't know about that," the cloaked man laughed, to their surprise, and he rose easily, the part of his cloak that the Rasengan had hit, shredded completely, revealing his bare chest, which was completely unharmed by the attack. The man tore the part of the cloak with the Hiraishin seal on it.

"What…what the hell?" Sasuke demanded as Naruto and Hinata stared in fear.

_"Not even a scratch," _Naruto thought.

**"This could be bad…" **Kurama mused.

_"Oh gee, you freaking THINK?!" _Naruto thought snidely.

"I must commend you on catching me off guard like that," the man said while applauding mockingly. "I was not expecting you to have learned Hiraishin. Against most foes, that would have been endgame. But then, I am far from most foes…"

_"What __**is **__he?" _Sasuke and Hinata both thought.

"By the way…Sasuke," the man stated as he turned to the raven haired boy who stiffened in fear. "You seem to be a shadow of your former self… where _did_ all of that hatred that gave you power go?"

Naruto's eyes widened while Sasuke growled, "What are you talking about?! I am strong enough to take you out! Chidori! 1000 Birds!" With that, his arm was shrouded in lightning chakra and he rushed the man, ignoring Naruto's cry of "Sasuke, wait!"

"Pathetic… come, I will restore your true self," the man said as a spark rose from his palm. His chest turned a blackish color as the Chidori struck it, not even scratching the surface of it. Sasuke's eyes widened as the man's hand went for his head, only for Naruto to quickly tackle Sasuke out of the way.

_"This guy is clearly from the Elder Dimension,"_ Naruto thought frantically, his eyes gaining a reddish pigmentation around them, and the pupils turning yellow with a block in them. _"And it is also obvious that he knows about the time travel, and a little about what Sasuke was like before we turned time back."_

**"And he seems to know the Pulse Imprint Jutsu as well…"** Kurama growled.

_"If he restores Sasuke's memories, there is no telling what he will do. I can't let that bastard get a hold of Sasuke's head!" _"Sasuke, you and Hinata stay back, I'll take care of this guy," Naruto declared as he rushed forward, ignoring their protests. Immediately, he and the cloaked man exchanged blows, but Naruto's frog katas were having very little effect as the man's chest and presumably the rest of his body turned black again. "What kind of ability is that?" Naruto demanded as he ducked a kick from his opponent, drew Arashikatta and struck, enhancing the blade with wind chakra.

"This is the power of the Elder Dimension's Kuro-Ko (Black Steel) clan," the man said as he casually raised his arm to block, the blade cutting the sleeve, but only causing sparks to fly from the arm. "Black steel is a very rare and strong material that only appears in a few dimensions, the Elder Dimension being the third most common location for it. Our Kekkei Genkai allows us to turn into this metal at will." With that, he kicked Naruto hard in the chest, throwing the blond back. "It also gives our strength and speed a boost, because the metal is actually lighter than flesh."

Naruto flipped on time to meet the man's next charge, ducked a punch, sidestepped a kick, jumped another kick and formed another Rasengan, this one bigger that he was tall. "Sage Art: Giant Rasengan!" The giant orb blasted into the man, flinging him backwards once more, but once again unharmed. The Kuro-Ko clan member did have the entire upper half of his cloak torn however, only the sleeve of his left arm still on from the waist up. His exposed face was nothing special, no facial hair and short brown hair on his head.

"Still not good enough," he said as he turned black again and charged as Naruto braced himself. Before they could attack each other again, Hinata and Sasuke leapt at the man, both casting hand signs.

"Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!"

"Water Style: Water Bullets!"

The fireball hit first, the man laughing as he took the hit, with no damage, before two water balls hit him, causing him to steam a little.

"Sasuke, Hinata, no!" Naruto cried as he quickly made a Shadow Clone and formed a Rasengan while the Shadow Clone immediately started adding wind chakra.

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted again as he stabbed forward.

"Eight Trigrams: 16 Palms!" Hinata cried, rushing forth. The man laughed off the Jyuken strikes and kicked Hinata away, while Sasuke's Chidori struck his chest again, this time penetrating a few centimeters.

"I see, you managed to soften my skin marginally by heating it before rapidly cooling it," the man mused as he kneed Sasuke in the face, before grabbing his forehead. "But it was not enough. Now… Pulse Imprint Juts-" He was cut off when he was hit violently in the side by Naruto's Rasenshuriken, carrying him away from Sasuke as the latter fell to the ground, clutching his head in pain. After a bit of distance, the wind style attack expanded, causing the man to scream in pain.

"Oh no, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted running to his friend and helping him up. He detected a small bit of chakra in his head, not enough for a complete Pulse Imprint, but that was expected since Naruto interrupted the technique. With an incomplete pulse, who knew what was going to happen…"Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he carried Sasuke to where she had collapsed and she rose unsteadily to her feet. "You need to take care of Sasuke for me while I finish this!"

"What did that man do to him?" Hinata asked fearfully as Naruto helped to steady her.

"I don't know," Naruto lied before he dashed off to where the man had been thrown.

"Damn…it…" Sasuke snarled as several voices flashed through his head rapidly. "What is…this…?"

_Multiple Flashbacks_

_"Do you truly wish to kill me, brother? Then hate me, and live, with no purpose other than destroying me with that hatred!"_

_"I do not have a dream, because I will make it a reality…I'm going to restore my clan, and destroy a certain person…"_

_"You're still too weak…you don't have enough hate."_

_"I want you to fight me Naruto, right here, right now."_

_"There's no reason for me to put it on, because you won't be able to scratch my forehead!"_

_"Sakura…thank you."_

_"When two shinobi of a high enough level fight, they can tell each other's thoughts, without any words, knowing what the other is thinking through no more than a trade of blows. So Naruto, can you tell what I'm thinking? What's on my mind?"_

_"I've had enough of this, what the hell are you!?"_

_"I'm your friend! That's why I'm telling you, I'm not gonna let the likes of Orochimaru get a hold of you! But if you won't listen to reason, then… I'll break every bone in your body!"_

_"Just shut up already. What can you, who never had anything know about me? YOU WERE ON YOUR OWN RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT, HUH? I'M SUFFERING NOW BECAUSE I HAD THOSE TIES, SO WHAT CAN YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS I FEEL?!_

_"It's true… I don't have a clue what it's like to have parents… or siblings… but during those times with Iruka-sensei, I can't help but wonder if that's what it is like to have a father… and when I am with you… I wonder if that is what it is… to have a brother…"_

_"Why Naruto? Why go so far for me?"_

_"Because, Sasuke, this is the first time that I've had a bond like this… that's why I'll do whatever it takes to stop you!"_

_"A bond…if that's the case…then all I have to do… is SEVER that bond."_

_"CHIDORI!"_

_"RASENGAN!"_

_"Your life was spared on a whim, nothing more. And this time, you will lose your life on a whim."_

_"I see you dead, at my feet."_

_"I see… well then, try to make it reality!"_

_"Sorry, Sasuke. That's the last time."_

_"He was ordered to do so by Konoha."_

_"He sacrificed everything, including his life…still fooling you to the very end."_

_"We now exist for a single goal…TO DESTROY THE HIDDEN LEAF VILLAGE!"_

_"You are laying waste to Itachi's sacrifice!"_

_"Do not say Itachi's name!"_

_"Sasuke, there is more in you than just your clan. Look into your heart, one more time…"_

_"You're all… laughing. YOU'RE LAUGHING…AT THE COST OF ITACHI'S LIFE! IGNORANT FOOLS! YOUR LAUGHTER SOUNDS LIKE CONTEMPT AND JEERING TO ME! I WANT TO CHANGE THEM TO SHRIEKS AND WAILS!"_

_"ALL OF YOU OUTSIDERS JUST SHUT UP!"_

_"Do you know what Naruto has gone through for you? No matter what he heard about you, he never once stopped thinking of you as a comrade! Even now…"_

_"The severing of all bonds is the ultimate purification! And that shall lead to the Uchiha clan's true restoration!"_

_"CHIDORI!"_

_"RASENGAN!"_

_"Do you remember? The entire village used to hate me…because I have the Kyuubi sealed within me… I hated them right back. I wanted revenge…one bad move…and I could have been like you. I used to think that I didn't have bonds with anybody…until I metyou and Iruka-sensei. I knew that you were alone like me and I felt better that there was someone around like me… I wanted to be your friend, but I never could. Because I was jealous of you. You were good at everything. You were my rival! You were my goal. I had nothing, but I built bonds. And when we had our missions as Team 7, I was always chasing you, trying to catch up to you. I wanted to be strong like you. Cool like you. __**I'm happy I knew you."**_

_"Naruto, no matter what you say to me now, I'm not changing! I'm still going to kill everyone in Konoha, including you! So your only choices are to kill me and become a hero who saved the village, or just be another loser who was killed by me!"_

_"Neither! I…"_

_"What is it with you?! Why are you always messing in my business?"_

_"BECAUSE YOU'RE MY FRIEND!"_

_"But it's also because I'm your little brother that I won't stop, no matter what you say. Just like how you're protecting the village now, I will definitely destroy it. Goodbye."_

_"I always lied to you, telling you to forgive me. I always kept you far away, with my own hands…I didn't want…to involve you…but now I think… that maybe you would have been able to change father, mother… the Uchiha…if I had faced you from the start… tried to see things from your point of view and talked with you about the truth… but I failed, and no matter what I say now, it still won't reach you. That's why I'm finally going to say what I really think. You don't have to forgive me…no matter what you decide to do from now on… I will love you forever."_

_"Have you reached a decision…Sasuke? Crush the village…or…"_

_End Flashbacks_

Sasuke was panting hard and sweating profusely. "What was that?" He tried to remember what had just gone through his mind, but the details were slowly trickling away, like water he was trying to keep cupped in his hands. All he could recall after a minute was a sense of great loss…and anger…

"That actually hurt a little, Kyuubi brat…" the man said as he rose again, some skin torn from his right arm where the Rasenshuriken had hit him. "But you still won't be able to beat me…"

_"Darn… that wound isn't nearly serious enough," _Naruto cursed mentally._ "What doe s it freaking take to beat him!?"_

**_"_****Naruto… you're just going to have to use ****_that _****jutsu…" **Kurama advised.

_"But, I haven't finished it yet, and I don't know if I can throw it, even if I use it right…"_

**"I'm going to give you enough chakra for a three tail cloak… at this stage of your development, that's the most I can do without running a serious risk of killing you… but it should be enough to give you some protection from the backlash without the need for distance."**

"_I did not want to reveal you to them yet, but_…_guess there's no other option…" _Naruto decided as the Stage 1 cloak flowed from him, three tails forming. Two extra sets of hands also formed as Naruto began to form a Rasengan with both hands, and the cloak's four extra arms also moved around the Rasengan, as it started to once again take the shape of a shuriken, but with the exception of the wind chakra blades, the Rasengan took on a rocky shell. _"Come on… if there was ever a time I needed you to hold together, it is now… please, don't blow up in my face!"_

Sasuke and Hinata were watching in shock as the cloak formed around Naruto. "W-what is that?" Hinata asked fearfully. As she activated her Byakugan and gasped in surprise as she saw a chakra entirely different from Naruto's. "What's happening to you, Naruto?"

_"If that attack is more powerful than the last…" _the man thought fearfully. "_I can't afford to let it hit me. And if I charge, I'm just asking to let it hit me… time to get some insurance." _His eyes fell upon Hinata and Sasuke and he dashed for them.

"Damn," Sasuke muttered as the man moved so fast that he was behind them before they could even realize he was coming at them. The man grinned as he reached to grab his hostages…only for Naruto to appear between them and him, completed jutsu in hand.

"What!?"

_"I knew the bastard would come for my comrades again, so I made sure to put a Hiraishin seal on them when I helped them to their feet," _Naruto thought with satisfaction. "It's over! Earth and Wind Style! Solid Rasenshuriken!" He rammed the jutsu into the man's torso full force, adding his cloak-enhanced strength to the blow.

"AAAARRRRRGGHHHHHHH!" the man screamed in agony as the jutsu left Naruto's hand, the force of the attack blasting them both back, Naruto still taking serious damage despite the protection of the cloak, which was dispersed. He slammed into Sasuke and Hinata, who skidded back, refusing to drop him. The jutsu exploded a short distance away to do its damage to the man.

Quickly, Sasuke and Hinata jumped back, taking Naruto with them, looking in awe at the power that put even a regular Rasenshuriken to shame. "Naruto, that was… amazing," Sasuke said.

The banged up Naruto still managed a cocky grin. "I'd give the understatement of the year award to you, but that was so much of one, that if I said it was an understatement, I'd win instead."

Sasuke chuckled before they heard, "Damn it… I underestimated you, Kyuubi brat… I have to retreat."

The team watched in horror that the man could possibly have survived, as he got up, looking like he had been on the wrong end of a bear mauling. He seemed absolutely mutilated. Gritting his teeth in pain, he raised his left hand, and the air behind him cracked. He started to stagger backwards into the resulting rift.

Sasuke snarled, and closed his eyes. "I'm not letting you get away!" he shouted, opening them, the six point stars in them surprising everyone present.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Longest *pant* chapter *pant* ever! I suppose it was my fault for including so many flashbacks, but they all had significance in my book. The return to the village will occur next chapter, after the conclusion of the Waves arc.**

**Sorry Anon, spades ****_was _****what I meant to say. It's been a few years since I last played a card game, and I somehow got the terms aces and spades switched around in my mind between now and then.**

**Review everyone!**


	12. Chapter 11: Wrapping Things Up

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Finally, the conclusion of the Wave arc! Plenty of humor later in this chapter, for those of you who were starting to miss it.**

**Chapter 11: Wrapping Things Up**

_"Oh man, when did Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan come back!?" _Naruto thought. _"Was it because the scumbag tried to restore his memories?"_

"Amaterasu!" Sasuke shouted, the name of the jutsu he was attempting just popping into his mind as he focused on the man who was desperate to escape. In mortal terror of what was coming, he extended his right hand, and it ignited into black flames. Before Sasuke could continue, his left eye bled and he closed it in pain.

"Shit!" the man cursed, realizing that even black steel would eventually be consumed by the flames, and would not go out until then. Realizing his only option if he wanted to live, he turned his left hand into the metal, and chopped down on his right arm, literally crushing it off at the elbow. He screamed in pain at this self-inflicted wound as the blazing arm fell to the ground to finish its incineration. He backed into the portal, a look of sheer hatred in his eyes at Sasuke as it closed. "This isn't over… mark my words… when next we meet… I will finish restoring your true self… and you will gladly destroy all that you hold dear now!"

"Damn, he's gone," Sasuke panted as he plopped down, panting and clutching his bleeding eye. "What did I just do?"

"It looks like you somehow awakened a stronger level of Sharingan," Naruto panted, feigning ignorance. "But it doesn't seem as though you should use it that often, not if it makes your eye bleed like that. It clearly has drawbacks." Sasuke nodded in response.

Sasuke nodded as he got up. Hinata looked at Naruto and said, "N-Naruto-kun, that was amazing, what you just pulled off. But what was that chakra around you?" Naruto looked a little more solemn as this was asked, so Hinata hastily continued, "N-never mind, you don't have to tell us i-if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine Hinata, Sasuke," Naruto said with a small sigh. Both of his friends looked at him, worried for him. "You two are too close to me for this to stay bottled up anymore… I have the Kyuubi sealed inside of me." Their eyes widened in shock as he continued, "What you heard about the Sandaime killing him, that was a lie, you can't outright kill a tailed beast, you have to seal them. My dad was going to do it instead, but Felix stopped him so that the Sandaime could seal him instead. So now you two know why some of the villagers hate me, even if I am the son of the Yondaime…"

"I did not realize that you had such a burden," Hinata said, thinking that this at least partly explained why there was a great deal of hurt hidden in his eyes, but why was there more than that?

"Don't worry about it. I have friends like you guys who know that I'm still Naruto, and not some overgrown fur ball in a human form. Besides, Kurama is not that bad."

"Kurama?" Sasuke asked.

"What, you didn't think his name was just Kyuubi , did you? I say he is not that bad because he did not attack the village of his own free will."

"W-what do you mean?" Hinata queried.

"Think about it for a moment. A being that powerful, and the only two times he has a major impact on human history are first when he was controlled by Madara Uchiha against the Shodaime Hokage. Then Kurama told me himself that someone claiming to be the the same person controlled him into attacking the village as well…"

"But, if he can talk to you…" Sasuke said as he paled. "How do you know he's not lying to you to manipulate you?"

"Two things. First, he willingly gives me chakra when I need it with no strings attached. Second, his story actually fits a few things from when he attacked the village. You see, Dad told me that there was a Sharingan in Kurama's eye at some point, implying that he was controlled by an Uchiha, many villagers can attest to that, and Dad actually fought the guy that day, which was why he took so long to go fight the Kyuubi itself. Then there was the fact that he was Summoned to the village…"

"What do you mean Summoned?"

"Dummy, do you really think that a walking natural disaster could just waltz on over to a village without being spotted _long _before he arrived? But no one did notice him, not until he was inside the freaking village. That means he practically _had _to appear out of nowhere."

"But if he was controlled at the start, why did he continue attacking once he was free from the control?"

"Well… oh hold on, Kurama wants to tell you this himself… give me a sec…" With that Naruto closed his eyes and opened them again, shocking both of his teammates with their red irises and slit pupils.

**"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have just told the villagers who were still in the midst of attacking me that it was a big mix-up and I didn't mean any of it… hah!" **Kurama snorted sarcastically. **"Besides, I was in a ****_very _****bad mood at that point and needed to vent as well as defend myself."**

"So anyway," Naruto said once Kurama had turned control back to him. "Kurama has done nothing thus far to betray my trust, so I will continue to give him the benefit of the doubt."

"All right, Naruto," Sasuke said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll trust your judgment on this, because I can tell that you're serious. Just don't let the Kyu… Kurama pull a fast one on you."

"All right let's head- OOWWWW!" Naruto had just tried to get up before remembering that most of the bones in his right side were broken as a result of the backlash of his jutsu.

"Naruto, you baka… you tell me not to use my new Sharingan after you pull a stunt like that? The pot calls the kettle."

….

Zabuza dodged a swipe from Samehada, and thrust forward with his own large blade only to see it dodged. The battle thus far had been driven to a stalemate, with Zabuza being fairly even with Kisame in the kenjutsu department and had the advantage of having Itachi and Haku as a distant backup. Their main disadvantage was their inability to fight with ninjutsu for fear of Kisame just absorbing it into Samehada. Kisame did not have that problem, and used several water style techniques against them.

Kisame moved to Zabuza's side and cast his hand signs. "Water Style: Shark Bullet Jutsu!" A large shark made of water sped at Zabuza, who leapt back hastily, and received a kick from Kisame when the shark-man had dashed in front of Zabuza while he had dodged. The force of the blow threw Zabuza backwards, Kubikiribocho flying from his hand. _"Blast, he got me," _Zabuza thought as Kisame charged him while he was still in midair, ready to swing his sword with both hands. _"So it ends here…"_

There was a blur between Zabuza and Kisame and Haku materialized, arms spread wide to take to blow for his surrogate father, just as he had died last time. Zabuza's eyes widened in horror as the blade came down, about to take Haku's life. Then Kisame suddenly veered off and black flames ignited in the air he had just been in.

"Just in time… I managed to make him back off…" Itachi panted while clutching at his now bleeding right eye.

"Well, looks like we have a user of the Mangekyo Sharingan…" Kisame mused. "It was lucky for me Samehada detected the chakra for the flames gathering, otherwise you would have caught me. This could actually be fun."

Then without warning, the air behind Kisame shattered and a bloodied hand emerged and grabbed the shark man's shoulder. "We're retreating, Kisame, the mission was a failure."

"Huh? But I was just getting to the good part!" Kisame protested, though he reluctantly stepped into the rift.

"Do not argue."

"Humph, fine." And the rift closed. They were gone.

…..

"What did you do to yourself, Naruto-san?" Haku asked in horror while he was working on setting the bones and using some basic medical ninjutsu to try to expedite the blonde's healing factor. After the battle, Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata returned to the bridge, Sasuke carrying the blonde, to find the battle completely over. Afterwards, the entire group had returned to Tazuna's home, though everyone was nervous about Zabuza, and Haku a little less so, but Itachi assured them that he trusted Zabuza not to do anything now that he was no longer getting paid to do so. Plus, now that Itachi had access to all of Gato's financial information, he could give Zabuza what Gato was supposed to pay him, if he behaved himself. Then Haku began to try fixing Naruto up. It was a good thing he knew the human body so well and had some medical techniques.

"It was a new jutsu I had been working on," Naruto groaned. "It puts two elements into the Rasengan instead of just one. I was forced to use it in the fight, and well, you can see the result. At least the guy I hit it with is in worse shape than I am…"

"I don't doubt that," Haku muttered. "Hold still for me, setting ribs is a little harder than other bones."

"OOOOOUUUUUCCCCHHHHH!"

"And it hurts quite a bit too, so be sure to be braced."

"Gee, you couldn't have told me BEFORE the first one?"

Sasuke meanwhile was sitting in the corner, deep in thought. The parting words of that man were still fresh in his mind. _"This isn't over… mark my words… when next we meet… I will finish restoring your true self… and you will gladly destroy all that you hold dear now!" _Sasuke frowned and felt his still throbbing head. What had the guy done to him that could have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan? Sasuke had asked Itachi if he knew anything about the new Sharingan he had, and Itachi had explained about it and said that usually awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan required the death of someone close to the Uchiha in question and could not answer what the man had done that caused Sasuke's to awaken. Itachi had also warned Sasuke not to use it too much, or it would eventually result in blindness.

But whatever the man had done had somehow caused Sasuke to feel an inexplicable hatred, though he could not place what it was directed at. He also remembered some kind of echoes in his mind, but he was unable to remember the words or even the subject. And Sasuke was afraid. What would have happened if Naruto had not interrupted the jutsu? Would he have really have turned on his friends and other things he held close to him as the man had promised he would? What if he would hurt those he cared about? He could not let that happen…

Haku left after he had finished treating Naruto, cautioning him to take it easy for a few days at least, healing factor or no. Once he was out of the room, he was greeted by Zabuza. "Haku, may I have a word with you?"

"Of course you may, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied and they left the house for a little privacy. "What did you wish to talk to me about?"

"Haku, I do not ever want to see you try to take a fatal blow for me again. I already lost you once that way, and that had been what it had taken for me to realize that you were more than a tool to me. You are practically a son at this point. We now have a second chance at fixing things, but when I saw you come between me and that shark bastard, I thought we had failed already."

"But Zabuza-sama, I have no desire to lose you either, and I will not promise not to lay down my life for you again."

"Damn it Haku, do you not realize that after I had lost Yagura, you were all I had left, though I did not realize myself at first? I had treated you as a tool for so long, afraid that if I admitted that I cared for you, I would suffer again if you were to die. But now I can no longer deny the bond we have. Do not do me the cruelty of making me see you die again, so help me, I refuse to go through that twice!"

"Zabuza-sama… I did not realize you had such a soft spot!" Haku laughed, trying to break the sour mood.

Zabuza chuckled as well as he realized what Haku meant. "What can I say, for Yagura I became a demon alongside him. For you, I will go back to being human."

….

"Sasuke, you all right?" Naruto asked as he turned his head towards his friend from the bed.

"Not really Naruto," Sasuke muttered. "I'm thinking about what happened when we came for you, that genjutsu the guy put on me. If you had not interrupted it, I don't know what would have happened…"

"What did you see from it?" Naruto asked.

"I don't remember. The details slipped from my grasp soon afterwards, only leaving behind a sense of anger. Whatever the fragments of that genjutsu did, they made me feel great hatred, though I do not know what towards, and that state of Sharingan you saw me use is supposed to only show up with the feelings of losing someone close to the one who has Sharingan, though I still don't remember what caused it to awaken in me. And do you remember what that man said to me before he left?

"Sasuke…"

"Naruto, I need you to promise me something… if something does happen, and I become threat to what I hold dear now-"

"Sasuke, that will never happen, we're friends, so don't make me promise to…"

"And that's why I'm asking you, as a friend. If I go down a dark path, and put those I care for at risk… just… put an end to me."

"…No…"

"What?"

"Sasuke, I do not care how far you fall. I refuse to lose you to the darkness. No matter how deep within it you go, I will pull you out of it, no matter what. I will never give up on you if you go bad Sasuke… so don't ever ask me to do so again."

"…I'm sorry, Naruto. You're right. Whatever happens, I will stay away from the darkness. I promise that I will not force you to go back on your word."

….

"How dare you fail me Drek!" Raizen bellowed as the now one armed was hovering above the ground in great pain as the Genshukuayatsuri was using his powers on him, slowly putting pressure just short of ripping his helpless servant to pieces on him. "Not only could you not subdue or eliminate the Kyuubi brat, but you even failed to set his friend against him! Both of your tasks, failed because of your total incompetence!"

"Please… Lord Raizen… have mercy!" Drek managed to gasp as his remaining limbs started to make sickening cracking noises under the pressure of the gravity manipulation.

"You are very fortunate that I believe in second chances, Drek," Raizen said as he whipped his arm to the side and Drek was thrown against a wall hard. "If you fail again, you had better pray that your enemies are the ones who kill you before I have the opportunity to truly awaken you to what pain is."

Drek only whimpered in reply.

…..

The Great Naruto Bridge had been completed about two weeks later, Inari having insisted that his grandfather call it that. Afterwards, Itachi had given Tazuna the money he had taken from Gato, with a small amount given to Zabuza for the trouble Gato had put him through, and to help him get settled in the Leaf. Tazuna also gave the remaining payment for an A-ranked mission, and gave all members of Team Itachi a small bonus. They had tried to refuse the extra, but Tazuna insisted saying, "You not only kept me safe from Gato and his thugs, but you all helped restore hope to my country and to my family most of all. We wouldn't have this money if you hadn't taken it from Gato anyway, so this is your due. Besides, unless that kid gets more than a steady income, he is going to eat himself and everyone around him into bankruptcy."

So they departed the Land of Waves, and as they walked, Itachi was discussing with Zabuza the procedure for integrating missing nin into the payroll of other villages. It obviously was not done for everyone, because there were too many trustworthiness issues with most, as well as political issues with the ninja's original village, but those who had something to offer were considered, and considering that Zabuza was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and his apprentice was someone with a bloodline thought to have died out, they should have more than a good chance at being accepted after submitting to an interrogation and going through a probation period. Zabuza was not happy about the probation period, but took it stoically.

They were let into the village and spotted Konohamaru, who was holding some kind of microphone and Akari both running for dear life while laughing from an angry and bruised Ebisu, who for some reason was being chased by a large number of angry women while he was holding some kind of recording device. Naruto guessed that the two had slipped said device somewhere on Ebisu's person and rigged it to play anything Konohamaru and Akari said into the mike in Ebisu's voice, making it seem as though the jonin was the one saying them and insulted the women through the device.

"Heh heh, I knew it, pay up Sasuke," Naruto said, as the grumbling Uchiha handed him a roll of cash. Before they came back into the village, they had had a little bet that the two little jokesters would be right in the middle of one of their pranks when they got back to the village.

Itachi laughed and said to Sasuke, "You should know, little brother, that Naruto's luck happens to be the exact opposite of Tsunade's. She never wins a bet, not unless something bad is going to happen. That method of predicting catastrophes has never yet failed, the most famous example happening to be about twelve years ago."

"Oh really, what happened?" Zabuza asked with interest.

"She bought a lottery ticket, same old, same old, but the difference was that this time she had won the jackpot. Next day, we have ourselves an oversized nine tailed feral fox tearing apart our village."

**"I resent that," **Kurama grumbled sleepily.

"I wonder if we should prepare for something similar if Naruto ever loses a bet, if it's the opposite of the Legendary Sucker's," Haku mused with a chuckle, earning a nod from Itachi and a few giggles from Hinata.

"Huh, what if I actually lose a bet against Tsunade herself?" Naruto wondered aloud, causing Itachi to pale drastically as he imagined the horrors that would come of that.

"As soon as our two guests and I are finished meeting with the Hokage, I am going to go home to recover from that terrifying thought," Itachi said as he headed to the Hokage's tower, Zabuza and Haku in tow. The rest of Team Itachi could have sworn they heard their sensei muttering, "And write out my will…"

All three of them laughed at this, and Sasuke turned to Naruto and asked, "Uh … Is it too late to retract those other two bets we had?"

"Yes," Naruto said immediately, causing Sasuke to shed anime tears.

…..

"I see," Minato said to Itachi as the report was finished. "Very well, Zabuza Momochi, for the next two months, I am going to have you watched, and you will be restricted to D rank missions during that period. Should you pass the interrogation, and your probation period fail to turn up any problems, consider yourself a fully commissioned elite jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Haku Yuki, you will also be put on a probation period, though since you have had no official shinobi training, we will give you no missions until we are able to put you in a team of genin. I am aware that you are already chunin level at the least, however we do have rules to maintain. Fortunately, the chunin exams should be over and done with after a couple of months, and with luck, we will have enough in the way of promotions and others not making chunin to put you on a three-cell team."

"I understand, Hokage-sama," Haku said respectfully while Zabuza just grunted.

"All right then, let me just finish your probation forms and you can go." With that, Minato made two Shadow Clones to take care of said forms.

"Waaaaiiit," Zabuza said, his mouth open under his bandages. "You use Clones to do paperwork?"

"Yeah, why are you interested? I did not think that you ever had to do much, if any of it."

"Well, no but Yagura did, and I was the one who had to listen to all of his complaints all of the time. To think, I learn the secret that could have shut him all these years too late."

"Yeah, I sometimes wish that old Hiruzen was still around, if only so I could rub it in his face…"

…

"Hey Haku, how was the meeting with my old man?" Naruto asked as he slurped at his ramen. It had taken a bit, but Haku had found Naruto and his teammates at the ramen stand called Ichiraku's after getting directions from a villager who said that Naruto could usually be found there.

"It was fine, though it seems like it is going to take a couple months before I can be instated as a genin," Haku replied as he sat down and placed his order.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

Haku started to give a quick explanation, but was interrupted by Kiba coming up behind him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and saying, "Well hey, beautiful, you come here often? Because if you do, I should eat here more."

Hinata and Haku were both having a very hard time not bursting into laughter, while Sasuke groaned for some reason and started to dig in his pockets. With a perfectly straight face, Naruto said to Kiba, "Why, I had no idea you were gay, dog breath."

"What the hell do you mean, of course I'm not gay!" Kiba declared indignantly.

"Oh really? Then why are you hitting on that guy you have your arm around?" Naruto inquired, still barely managing to keep his face straight.

3…2…1… "Wait, what?! You mean this lady… is a dude?! Oh man…" And with that, Naruto, Haku and Hinata could no longer hold back and were roaring with laughter at Kiba as he went into the fetal position, Akamaru whining with embarrassment at his owner, while Sasuke finally found another wad of cash and handed it over to Naruto. "No way, I am so ruined… I am going to be known as the village's gay boy for the rest of my life."

Sakura, who had arrived with Kiba and her other teammate Shino, was laughing as well. "That's what you get for hitting on every pretty thing you see dog boy, it was only a matter of time before you came to regret it, though this was not what I had been expecting."

"That never gets old," Haku gasped as he finally sobered a little.

_"Wait, did Sakura cut her hair?" _Sasuke thought looking in confusion at said kunoichi. _"I thought that ever since Naruto thought it would be funny to start that rumor, she would not let a single strand fall without crying about it. Come to think of it, she hasn't gone fan-girl on me yet…"_

A little after that, Naruto and Hinata were the only ones left at the stand, Sasuke having just left, wanting to make sure he still had enough cash to pay Naruto for when the blonde won their last bet laying around. Naruto was on his last bowl when Hinata said, "You know Naruto-kun, it would be nice of you to let Sasuke off the hook for that last bet since you almost made him broke."

"Yeah it would be, but that would be no fun," Naruto said.

"True, but you still should do it, unless maybe you want me to tell my father about what happened at the end of our first day on that mission…" she replied with a deceivingly sweet smile

It took Naruto about three seconds before he paled and sweat profusely as he remembered slapping her. "You wouldn't…"

"Oh, I would. Sasuke is our teammate after all, and I would feel guilty if I let you keep taking his money like that."

"All right, I suppose it is too easy… please don't tell your father about that, who knows what he would do to me…"

"Oh, and just what were you not going to tell me?" a voice asked behind them, causing them both to pale to a level that it would be insulting to call white and whip around. Sure enough, right behind them, there was Hiashi with a very scary look in his eye. "Well? Is there something I should know?"

"Er, um, well…" Hinata started as she and Naruto tried frantically to come up with something before they were surprised by Hiashi breaking out into a grin and disappearing into a puff of smoke to be replaced by Sasuke, who was laughing his ass off.

"Oh man, the looks on your faces, I totally had you!" he cackled. Apparently he had come back, having forgotten his lighter wallet and overheard Hinata's threat and decided to have some fun with them.

Both Hinata and Naruto stared at him for a second before they also started to laugh. "That was way too good Sasuke," Naruto choked out. "You scared me shitless there…"

"Yeah well, consider it payback for the money you took from me," Sasuke chuckled before he was sobered by the evil grin of Naruto's that was very unnerving.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, you have no idea just what horrible game you have just committed yourself to… welcome to the world of petty revenge pranks."

Sasuke went white as he considered the warzone that was soon to come to Konoha. "I'm going home to write MY will," he said as he left.

Naruto and Hinata laughed at him before Naruto asked, "Er, you are not gonna try to stop me are ya?"

"Who's stopping you?" Hinata asked with a grin that scared Naruto a little. "I'm with you. He should know better than to scare me like that. Whatever you plan to do to him, count me in…"

….

Onoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure frowned at the reports in front of him, and the one that Zetsu, a member of the organization that the Hidden Earth Village had employed, had given him. All of them dealt with the battle strength of Konaohagakure due to recent developments that caused said battle strength to increase.

First off, there was Zabuza Momochi and that apprentice with the bloodline thought extinct. Somehow, the Hidden Leaf Village had persuaded the former member of the Ninja Swordsman to join them, along with said apprentice. That was not a good development for Iwa…

Then there were the two Uchiha brats that somehow awakened their Mangekyo Sharingans. Onoki knew firsthand just how powerful those ocular abilities were, having faced Madara so long ago. Now, with two of them… the old fence-sitter was starting to worry there…

Finally, there was the Namikaze brat. If what Zetsu was telling him was accurate, the son of the Yellow Flash had already not only mastered both of his father's techniques, the Hiraishin and the Rasengan, but actually completed the latter. And then the boy had actually improved the completed version! Add that to the fact that he already had at least some level of control already over the Kyuubi's chakra, and that brat was no doubt already a threat on the same level as his cursed father, who had almost single-handedly defeated Iwa in the last war.

The only nation that could hope to hold its own against the Hidden Leaf anymore was Kumogakure, and that was mainly because they had two jinchuriki that had full control over their tenants. Konoha was becoming far too big a threat to the other nations, and there was still bad blood between them and Iwa. Something had to be done, and soon.

Onoki looked at Zetsu and handed the mercenary his due. "Tell me, is the Akatsuki still doing business with that snake, Orochimaru?"

**"On an underground level, yes,"** Black Zetsu replied.

"Give him a message for me. Tell him that I want Iwagakure in on his plans to invade Konohagakure."

**A/N: So has anyone not voted yet? The poll I mentioned on a future fight scene with Raizen will still be open for at least a few more days, so hurry up. It's looking as though Raizen's three opponents will be Felix, Itachi, and Jiraiya. If you don't like the matchup, then vote!**

**More reviews please, keep them coming, and I will strive to constantly update! I am still going strong with my daily basis pledge, it's up to you all to motivate me to keep it going!**


	13. Chapter 12: Preparing for the Exams

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: The exams are coming up now, and things are going to get interesting after the planning stages. New OCs coming as well!**

**Chapter 12: Preparing for the Exams**

"All went according to plan, Obito-sama," Zetsu stated to his leader. "The old fool who calls himself our employer totally took the bait we laid out so well. With all of those careful hints that we worked with Orochimaru and that he had an invasion plan against Konoha, as well as our subtle implying that Konoha still bore a grudge and was planning on further hostilities…"

**"It was not long before the old coot was jumping at the opportunity to erase the threat to his village, and he thinks that it is his idea."**

"Well, not jumping, his back is not up for that sort of thing…"

"Well done," Obito stated. "It seems as though our continued partnership with Orochimaru has borne some fruit. Soon, we will have crushed the Hidden Leaf, and there will be four jinchuriki in one place, ripe for the taking. It is so good when a plan comes together…"

….

"Alright, now that the exams are rolling around, we need to figure out just what to do about a certain snake," Felix was saying to Naruto in his mindscape. The only others present were Ceilia and Kurama. "Not only that, but now that we know that, Genshukuayatsuri or no, but we also have to worry about other shady characters from the Elder Dimension. The fact that some of those people are here was pretty much confirmed by Naruto's report, and we can safely assume that they have designs on the tailed beasts, and that they are working with the Akatsuki."

"So the more immediate problem is Orochimaru," Naruto said. "How do we keep him from giving Sasuke one of those curse marks this time around, now that Ero-Sennin's spy network has confirmed for us that his goals are pretty much going to be the same as last time." They had recently let Jiraiya in on the loop on the time travel, but on the exact same basis that Minato and Kushina were on, need to know only. They asked him to look into the invasion plans and found out that Orochimaru was still planning on it this time around, and Sasuke was his target once more. They also managed to persuade the Toad Sannin to keep his mouth shut about it so they could handle things without Minato having anything done that could mess up the future. They would eventually tell the Hokage, but only when the trap was good and set and they needed him to play his part. The spies also picked something up that Felix knew that he was going to have to take care of.

"About that Naruto," Felix said. "I am thinking that we are going to let Orochimaru give Sasuke the seal again."

"What?! Why the hell are we going to do that?!"

"We need to avoid making the snake too suspicious, or he may see the trap. We let him give Sasuke the seal, and we let him get overconfident, helping us reel him in. the invasion is our best shot of taking him out. Not only that, but we can deal with the cursed seal, thanks to Ceilia here." She raised her hand in recognition of the praise. "She can either remove the seal, or tweak it so it doesn't screw with his mind or have any other negative side effects, while still giving him the power it has, so we not only not have to worry about the seal, but we hopefully help give Sasuke the strength to fight off the guy who's trying to make him go emo avenger again, hopefully before the complete Pulse Imprint Jutsu can be used on him."

"I hate it when you are right like that."

"Funny, I would think that you would be used to that by now. But now we need to discuss the Elder Dimension's new player. Since there is only one person from our realm confirmed, the Elder Dimension is only going to send one person specifically to back us up in this."

"Yeah, yeah I get the procedure by now."

"He or she should be selected and sent within a week, so we will talk again about our plans then."

**"In the meantime Naruto, I suggest you work on safely using that Solid Rasenshuriken of yours." ** Kurama growled. **"It is your best chance of defeating that Kuro-Ko man again. You should also make sure your teammates get stronger as well."**

"I still can't believe that you managed to pull a two element Rasengan before I did, I'm still having problems forming one of my own," Felix grumbled. "Me, who is supposed to be a master of the five elements. At least I can still lay claim to being the only one who can possibly do a five element one, no one else but one of my clan members can use all five."

"No _one _else, yeah," Naruto grinned, thinking about his future project. Once he got Sasuke and Hinata up to a decent level…

….

"So this AOS room is for sparring and training on a mental level, huh?" Sasuke asked as he and Itachi were led into the room by Felix and Naruto. "And all physical damage is erased?"

"Yep," Felix said proudly, "You two can practice with those enhanced eye of yours without losing any of your vision, so you can learn about your techniques and abilities, allowing you to get maximum effect right off the bat in real battles rather than have to lose some of your vision as you learn. You can also go all out in a spar with no risk of killing one another. Minato and I have gone at it several times already, but he has not managed to beat me yet, although he has been getting close. He even convinced Naruto to bet for him just yesterday, and I still pummeled him."

"I think I am going to go put the village on high alert right now, since Naruto lost a bet," Itachi deadpanned.

"Wait, you beat Naruto's dad? On a regular basis?" Sasuke asked disbelievingly.

"Yep, and let me tell you, that guy is really strong if he can keep me on my toes all the time. And about the crisis that Naruto's luck predicted for us, Jiraiya's spy network picked it up for us, and we took care of it…" Felix looked seriously at Itachi, who got the message about the invasion still being on this time around.

"All right then, let's get to training!" Naruto declared. "I cannot wait to kick Sasuke's butt all over the place!"

"Oh yeah right, like you could beat me!" Sasuke retorted.

….

"Hey, Hinata," Naruto said as he walked up to her, grinning like a fool, having repeatedly beaten Sasuke in the AOS room. No matter what the young Uchiha tried, Naruto was always one step ahead. He was really starting to love the time travel thing that got him a head start this time around, and he was also improving the Solid Rasenshuriken. He could throw it now, although it required a balance of both Sage Chakra and some of Kurama's. He was still trying to get it to work on just one or the other, but at least it was practical now, even if the chakra requirements were heavy.

"Y-yes N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked nervously.

"Listen, Itachi-sensei is thinking about recommending us for the upcoming chunin exams that start in about a month, and I want to make sure you are ready for it. You got some time to train, one on one?"

….

It was about a week later when Naruto was approached by Felix, Ceilia and two other people. "I thought you guys said that the Elder Dimension was only sending one guy," Naruto said as he was filling some water balloons at the stream, which Felix guessed was for some sort of prank.

"That's just their opinion," one of the men said in a somewhat reserved tone. His build was slight and he was a little shorter than average. He wore a rather simple garb, a white shirt with short sleeves and a low neckline, and dark blue slacks. His blonde hair was almost so short as to be bald, and his green eyes gave the same reserved air as his tone. "Many fools who write the laws consider my partner a simple tool. I am Xackary Shikokkyo (Death Border)."

"And I am Borace Higo, my friend's personal revenant," the man's companion said. Unlike Xackary, Borace towered at nearly seven feet, though he wore similar clothing. His build was also pretty heavily muscled and he had his red hair tied in a ponytail and his blue eyes had a rather soft look to them. He had a large black double-bladed axe strapped across his back, the blades both put together having a little more size than Zabuza's blade.

"What's a revenant?" Naruto asked.

"Someone who is suspended in a limbo between life and death itself," Ceilia answered. "The Shikokkyo clan is one of the most feared and avoided because they have powers over death. This allows them to reanimate corpses, summon spirits of the dead and even completely resurrect the recently dead. A revenant is someone who is put in a deathlike slumber before having their hearts surgically removed to be replaced by a stone infused with a Shikokkyo's chakra. This keeps them from aging or dying, though they are not quite alive anymore. Borace here was one of Xackary's few friends growing up before he contracted a fatal illness that even the medicines of the Elder Dimension could not cure. This led to Xackary choosing to make him a revenant."

"That's… a little creepy," Naruto said.

"A lot of people have the same reaction," Borace said with a sigh. "But I can assure you that the Shikokkyo do not use their abilities lightly, never forcing the spirits of the dead to fight against their will, or using the bodies of the dead without permission of the deceased, and though they know the Edo Tensei Jutsu, they do not use it unless they have a revenant as a temporary sacrifice, because that jutsu does not kill a revenant if they are used for the process, although I have heard that it is still rather uncomfortable, we can still feel pain."

"Huh, so you have free will and everything?"

"Of course. I could even kill Xackary if I ever wanted to, though that would result in my own death. Not that I ever would. He is one of the few people who treat me like a human being, some of the others being Felix and Ceilia. Not many people are comfortable around people with my… condition."

"I know how that feels. So, what does it take to kill a revenant?"

"There are four methods that would do the trick. One is to burn said revenant to cinders. Two is to either remove or completely destroy the stone in our chests, just breaking it won't work, it just mends itself. Three is to inflict what would be a fatal injury on our removed hearts, which the Shikokkyo who keeps us in this state keeps stored in a sealed box with them. Four is as simple as killing the Shikokkyo, because once the chakra that they provide throughout their lives stops, so does the jutsu. That means I will still have a normal human lifespan, except for the fact I will live every day in my prime."

"I believe that that is enough for introductions Borace," Xackary said. "Felix, am I correct in assuming that we have a place to stay at your home here?"

"Yes, of course," Felix replied. "Do you want me to-"

"No, that is fine, I already know where to find it. Borace and I will meet with the Yondaime Hokage later." With that, he and Borace left, the latter apologizing for Xackary's somewhat short attitude. The Shikokkyo clan was a lot like the Aburame in the fact that people avoided them because their powers made people quite uncomfortable to say the very least. This made Xackary a naturally quiet person, not one for socialization, much like Shino.

"Anyway Naruto, I am going to be gone until the start of the exams on that "diplomatic" mission I mentioned before. Ceilia will help take care of your friend from Sand when he arrives, so you won't have to worry about not having a Pulse Imprint Jutsu user while I am gone," Felix said to Naruto.

"And I will just be going now, before I somehow get involved in your prank Naruto," Ceilia deadpanned as she looked at the water balloons the blonde had gone back to preparing.

"What prank?" Naruto asked with a grin.

….

A couple of weeks later, Felix was sneaking around several Iwa guards, really cursing old man Onoki's paranoia. Ever since Jiraiya's spy network had uncovered the Fence-Sitter's intent, the Yoshoryuu had been trying to think of a way to keep things from getting out of hand. The best he could come up with was to restore the man's memories of the future, though Felix was really wishing he did not have to. The more people he restored the memories of, the more he would have to worry about things changing, and not to their advantage. Fortunately, he knew that Onoki was at least somewhat level headed, despite his worries against Konoha and would hopefully try to keep things as close as possible to the original timeline. It would also be good to have another kage in the loop to change things once other nations got involved in the battle against the Akatsuki. Felix just hoped that things did not get too complicated.

Eventually, he made it to the Tsuchikage's building and slipped past the guards. While Felix generally preferred to settle things in straight up fights, his stealth was also first class. He was finally able to slip into the old man's office while the geezer was taking a nap at his desk, large stacks of paper on either side of his head. Felix thanked his luck that he would be able to do things without a scuffle, and put a few privacy seals on the door, as well as entering Sage Mode to scan for any unwanted guests *cough* Zetsu *cough*, before walking up to the old man and grabbed his forehead.

"Wha-?" Onoki started as he woke.

"Pulse Imprint Jutsu."

….

"So what do you want me to do?" the Sandaime Tsuchikage asked about an hour later. "It's too late for me to back out of the invasion at this point,"

"I'm not asking you to. What I want is for you to double cross the old snake. We plan on taking him out this time at this point, he'll cause way too much trouble otherwise. Your support will help with the rout. We already plan on turning Sand against Sound as well by tipping them off that Orochimaru killed their Kazekage on the day of the invasion and having their commanders order their troops to fight the Sound ninja instead of the Leaf. If all goes according to plan, this endeavor should lead to a completely one-sided battle and cure many of our headaches at once."

"I hear you. I did not like the idea of working with that snake either, but I was fool enough to think I had to get rid of the leaf village… very well, I will go along with the invasion at first, but at the last minute, Iwa's troops will get their new orders."

"And this way, you also have the added benefit of reducing some of that bad blood between Stone and Leaf. Once the invasion is dealt with, you can likely sign a new treaty with them, so you won't have to worry about Stone being a target of the Leaf later. Another one less headache for you to deal with."

"Now if I could just figure out a way to defeat my worst enemy, I could relax a little."

"Worst enemy?" Wordlessly, Onoki gestured to the piles of paper at his desk, causing Felix to face fault. "Are you kidding me? Is figuring out that using Shadow Clones is the solution REALLY that hard?"Onoki did a very convincing impersonation of a fish before proceeding to give himself a concussion by banging his head against his desk, saying "stupid" with each impact. "Anyhow," Felix continued as Onoki massaged the bruise. "Now that we are done with our planning against Orochimaru, I need to tell you the do's and don't's of this whole time travel thing."

….

"Well, you completed the second step already," Naruto was telling Hinata proudly as they walked through the village. "Now we just need- oh, not this again!" They turned around to find the usual square rock following them.

"All right, come out please, Konohamaru," Hinata said while she face palmed and sweat dropped.

"Honestly, you four, do you never learn that we never fall for- huh? Cords?" Indeed, as Naruto had noticed there were two wire cords pulling the box along. Naruto and Hinata whipped around to find where the cords led, to spot Udon and Moegi coming from behind trash cans, each of them having a cord, having hidden in front of Naruto and Hinata and pulled the box into scooting behind them. Just as Naruto and Hinata were realizing that they were being had, an icy deluge of water with a few live fish in it rained down on their heads, thoroughly soaking and chilling them.

"I told ya it would work, Konohamaru!" Akari gleefully told the boy from the roof they had been stationed on top of, and they slapped a high five while Konohamaru tossed the now empty bucket down and it landed open end first on Naruto's head.

Both teens were twitching rampantly as Naruto pulled the bucket off of his head and a fish flopped off of Hinata's head. "I only have two words for the four of you…" Naruto said in a spooky manner, scaring the heavily laughing kids. "Run. Fast."

"Crap." Konohamaru, Akari, Udon and Moegi said in unison.

….

"Seriously Temari, you'd think a village this big would have a few signposts," Kankuro was telling his older sibling.

"It's not their fault that you are so easily lost and confused and refuse to ask for directions," Temari deadpanned. "Boys…"

Kankuro was about to retort as they turned a corner, when they heard a lot of yelling getting closer to them at a very fast rate. "Come back here so we can kill you!"

"You're the one who told us to run in the fir- OUCH!" Akari cried as she slammed right into Kankuro, and bounced backwards, landing painfully on her butt. Of course, she was not hurting nearly as much as Kankuro was, because her forehead had collided with his crotch.

"Damn… it…!" Kankuro grumbled, shivering in pain on his knees and clutching his soft spot while Temari was laughing her ass off at her brother's misfortune. "That hurt, you little witch!" he snarled as he rose, grabbed Akari's shirt and hoisted her up so she was eye level with him. Big mistake. With the exact same expression as Kushina gets when she's ticked, she reached forward, grabbed Kankuro's nose and twisted very quickly. "AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"

Now Temari literally had to lean against the side of a building for support , failing to use her lungs for efficient oxygen intake, when Kankuro hastily dropped Bloody Habanero Jr. "What's the matter, little bro, can't handle a little girl?" she wheezed.

"Shut up, Temari," Kankuro growled.

"Well, that is what you get for messing with my little sis, she's like a mini version of ma," Naruto chuckled as he and Hinata arrived, the latter still glaring angrily at the four kids.

"You mean that the little she-devil is your sister?" Kankuro demanded. "What's the big idea with her attacking me like that?!"

"It was an accident!" Akari protested.

"Hey, why don't you tell that well hidden friend of yours to come down?" Naruto asked. "The one with the kanji for love on his forehead?" Kankuro and Temari whipped around to see Gaara jump down from the branch of the tree he had concealed himself in and look at Naruto with mild interest. "I take it that since you guys are from sand, you are here for the chunin exams?"

"You are correct," Gaara said to Naruto. "I am Gaara of the Sand, and my two companions are my siblings, Temari and Kankuro."

"My name is Naruto Namikaze, and this is my teammate Hinata, and the red-headed she-devil is my sis Akari. The other three are Udon, Moegi and Konohamaru Sarotobi."

"Namikaze… You're related to the Yondaime?" Temari asked while Kankuro paled as he realized just who he had come so dangerously close to pissing off.

"Yeah, but I don't let it go to my head."

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered into the blonde's ear. "That boy, Gaara… do you see the look in his eyes?"

Naruto nodded as he realized that Hinata recognized the pain that was in Gaara's heart, hidden under the somewhat careless look he was giving now. "Hey, how about we get some ramen and get better acquainted? My treat."

"Very well, we accept," Gaara stated flatly, and Temari and Kankuro nervously nodded.

On the way to the stand, they ran into Haku and Sasuke and the former asked, "Hello Naruto-san, new friends?"

"Sort of," Naruto grinned.

"Well hi hot stuff, care to join us for lunch?" Kankuro asked Haku, earning loud snorts from everyone who knew Haku was a boy.

"Sorry, I happen to be straight."

"What?"

"Despite my appearance, I am a boy."

"HUH!?" Now everyone except for Kankuro and Gaara were laughing, and even the latter seemed to be struggling against a smirk. The former meanwhile was reacting in a similar manner to Kiba.

"Wow, you are never going to live this down," Temari sniggered. "You were already considered to be gay by most of your friends, because of that make-up, when they learn that you actually flirted with a boy…"

"It's not make-up, it's war paint!"

…..

After the embarrassing scene, Naruto, Hinata, Akari and the three siblings from Sand arrived at Iciraku's, a mortified Kankuro still shedding anime tears. Sasuke, Haku and the rest of Konohamaru's gang went their separate ways. "Hey Teuchi, Akari and I are here with friends, so get busy!" Naruto shouted.

"Money!" Teuchi shouted in glee as he dashed into the kitchen.

Once they had all placed their orders, Naruto sat next to Gaara and slipped a piece of paper into the red-head's pocket. The boy frowned but did not say anything. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Temari and Kankuro watching in sheer amazement at the volume of ramen Naruto and Akari downed, and they seemed to be competing.

"If these two are regular customers…" Kankuro asked thoughtfully. "How is this guy not rich enough to start a whole string of these stands? He should too, this is good stuff."

…..

"Do you think he will come?" Ceilia asked Naruto as the blonde arrived in the clearing.

"He should. I did pretty much tell him all about knowing the fact that he has Shukaku sealed inside him with that note, as well as about the Fuzz Butt inside of me."

**"I told you to stop calling me that, you little turd."**

"I will when I stop calling Jiraiya Ero-Sennin," Naruto sniggered as Kurama groaned as he recognized just how far off that day was. "Anyway, he is not the type to blab this sort of stuff."

So with that, the two waited. It was not long before Gaara came into the clearing. "I came as you asked Namikaze, so tell me, how is it you have gotten people to accept you?"

"Ceilia here can put that information directly into your mind, but you are going to have to let her touch your forehead." Naruto replied. "And before you ask, no, this is not some elaborate scheme to take you out of the exams. If it was, I could have just tried to poison that ramen at the stand."

Gaara frowned and moved to Ceilia. "Try anything and I will kill you," he threatened.

"I have heard similar things before," she replied before she put her hand on Gaara's head. "Pulse Imprint Jutsu."

Gaara's features tightened in discomfort, but he took the pain. Once the process was over, he glared up at Naruto and Ceilia and before they even knew it, they were caught in his sand. "Give me one good reason why I should not kill you two now."

"Because I can tweak your seal for you, so you can actually sleep without that creature that pretends to be your mother's spirit taking you over, and you'll be able to control that blood lust of yours, even on the full moon," Ceilia replied without the slightest hint of fear.

"Because that is no way to greet an old friend, now is it Gaara?" Naruto grinned. Gaara sighed as he released the two. "Welcome back Godaime Kazekage."

"It is good to be back."

After a brief explanation of what had occurred, and what they were planning for the future, Gaara nodded. "I see, so we are going to eliminate Orochimaru this time around when he attacks. Just one question. What are we going to do about my father?"

"I have an idea about that," Naruto replied. "We have a new ally who can heal and revive the recently dead, so if we let the start of things go down the same way as before, we should be able to still lure the snake into our trap while still allowing us to save your father."

"Thank you. He may have done some cruel things to me in the past, but I understand his reasons, and have already forgiven him."

"Okay then, just let me fix your seal for you," Ceilia stated as she undid her headband.

"Brace yourself Gaara," Naruto said with a shiver. "It's a little uncomfortable to have her look at you with that extra eye of hers."

"What- oh I see," Gaara said as said eye was opened.

"Lift your shirt please so I can see your seal," Ceilia requested. Gaara complied and she stated, "Wow. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. This was very poorly done. The seal does give you almost full access to the Ichibi's power, but it also gives him complete access to your mind, and that is a bad trade-off if you ask me. Alright, hold still so I can fix this." A few minutes later, Gaara was rubbing his gut in some discomfort. "There you go, you should have your mind to yourself now. Unless you initiate a conversation, Shukaku won't be bugging you for a while."

"Thank you," Gaara said.

….

It was three days later when Felix returned and told Naruto his mission was a success. Coincidentally, that was the same day the exams were supposed to start. "Just in time, Felix," Naruto grinned.

"Good luck in there, Naruto," Felix said. "Your teammates should already be in the building."

Sure enough, the blonde did find Sasuke and Hinata waiting for him. "Hey Naruto, you notice yet?" Sasuke asked, pointing to the block that had the room number on it.

"Yeah, I did. Let's go to the real room then."

On the way, they spotted a familiar face. "Hey Zabuza, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"What do you think?" Zabuza replied. "Since I am still stuck with low ranked missions, I am stuck with being an exam proctor right now. Don't think I'll be going easy on you."

"Wouldn't dream of it." With that they entered the exam room, soon to be followed by all of the other genin.

Things were a little uneventful after that, with the exception of meeting Kabuto again (It took a lot of self control on Naruto's part not to kill the spy then and there). Then the confrontation with the three Sound ninja happened all over again.

As Kabuto was busy emptying his lunch a voice out of nowhere shouted, "Quiet down you worthless brats!" And Ibiki, Zabuza and the other proctors appeared in the room.

**A/N: The exams begin next chapter! Who else is eagerly anticipating this? Next time, it's a showdown in the Forest of Death!**

**I am nearly halfway to where I want to be on reviews before I hit chapter 20, so REVIEW! Can't wait to hit triple digits.**


	14. Chapter 13: Confrontation in the Forest

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: And now it's lucky 13, and strangely enough, it will be Orochimaru making an appearance in the chapter.**

**Chapter 13: Confrontation in the Forest**

Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata took seats far apart from each other, as per the instructions of the proctors. Ibiki began to explain the rules of the exam **(A/N: Sorry, but I am too lazy to describe these events in detail, it is, and I quote, too troublesome. Besides, I am sure you people are eager for the Forest of Death part)**.

The hour time limit began, and Naruto was quite unconcerned. The questions were mostly complex things that he did not think were very important. I mean, who freaking cares what the exact velocity and angles of shuriken are in an actual battle. You don't calculate that stuff, you do it on instinct, for Kami's sake! Even so, Naruto was actually able to answer a couple of questions this time on his own and he decided to get the rest the way the proctors wanted.

"May I use the restroom please?" he asked with his hand in the air after the first ten minutes of the exam.

"Very well, I shall have a proctor escort you," Ibiki stated and Zabuza immediately stepped forward with a pair of handcuffs and rope attached. Once they were on Naruto, the two left the room and took the next door on the left.

"Just what sort of trick are you planning Naruto?" Zabuza asked.

"A magic trick," Naruto said before pointing to his mouth. "I consume stuff up here, and it comes out-"

"Never mind! Wise ass," the swordsman muttered as Naruto entered the stall. Despite the cuffs, Naruto was able to discretely form two clones without too much trouble, and they quickly Transformed into little orange lady bugs with an eye on each wing, one of them closed to make an impression of a wink. After a moment, they had hidden themselves within his sleeves, and Naruto left the stall.

Once they were back in the exam room, Naruto sat back down after reminding Zabuza to remove the cuffs, which he seemingly "forgot". Once that was done, he let the bugs out of his sleeves under the table, and they made an erratic path to Hinata and Sasuke.

Hinata was still in the middle of copying answers down, having the use of her Byakugan to see all papers in the room. Then she spotted a strange insect making its way to her. She noticed the orange color and that the wings seemed to have a winking design on them. She smiled a little, having guessed what Naruto was up to. Sasuke meanwhile was using his Sharingan to copy the movements of a chunin hopeful that seemed to know what he was doing. He felt a little movement on his hand and upon looking at the orange insect crawling on it, understood immediately.

After about 20 more minutes, the transformed clones dispelled, their memories going back to Naruto. He wrote down the rest of the answers at a record pace. It was finally 45 minutes into the exam when Ibiki called their attention and explained the rules of the tenth question. When he said that it was a choice between rejecting the question and immediately failing or accepting it and if they got it wrong, would be banned from ever taking the exams again, the reaction was the same as last time.

Naturally, many genin backed out, same as last time. When there were 78 people left, Naruto decided to make the exact same speech as last time as well. They had to keep things the same as possible after all… Upon realizing that no one else was going to quit, Ibiki declared that the first part of the exams was over and they had all passed. He proceeded to explain that the first nine questions were merely a test of information gathering. The tenth question was just a way of asking whether the candidates for chunin were willing to take the plunge into the unknown, as would be expected of a chunin on certain missions.

Finally, Anko made her "dramatic entrance", by breaking through the window and pinning a banner up behind her with kunai. "Whaddup, maggots!?" she shouted at all of them. "Now that you all passed the first part of the exams, I will be your proctor for the second part of it, so let's go! What? 78 of you? You must be slipping a little Ibiki, if you let this many people pass!"

"They all do have potential, Anko," the man replied.

"I see, but I am just going to have to reduce their ranks by at least half before the end of the next exam."

With that, she led them to the training grounds known as the Forest of Death. Just as she declared that she was going to tell them why it they were called that, she developed a tick mark as Naruto yawned, and threw a kunai at him, nicking his cheek before she came up next to him and started to lick the blood that came from the cut, right before a certain Grass genin came up behind her and gave her the kunai back, with her tongue. _"Yep, that's Orochimaru all right, I still can't believe that I am going to let him give Sasuke that stupid mark again." _Naruto grumbled mentally.

Afterwards, Anko gave the teams all of the forms required and explained that the goal of the second exam was to get two scrolls, one of Earth and one of Heaven and bring them to the tower in the center of the forest, with the requirements of it being done within five days, all three teammates still being alive, and no one opening the scrolls until they were at the tower. Since there were 26 teams, there would be 13 of each scroll and each team would start with one scroll before being let into the forest at different gates.

It was finally time to enter the forest and Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata were quick to dash into their segment. They were discussing a few tactics when Naruto recognized the same spot as before and said he needed to take a leak and headed off into the bushes, Sasuke muttering something about having too much to drink before the exams, while Hinata was fighting a temptation…

Naruto smirked as he pretended to do his business and whipped around with no warning, pulling a kunai and having the Ame genin at his mercy. Said genin was cursing his luck as Naruto tied him up and rummaged aroud the guy's pouch and lo and behold, there was an Earth scroll, the one they needed. Some small detail must have changed which scroll the Amegakure team got this time around, to the delight of the young Namikaze.

"Hey I bagged us a prisoner already!" Naruto declared as he came out of the bushes, dragging the guy along with him. "And guess what luck would have him have?" He brandished the scroll with one of his trademark grins on his faces.

"Nice work, Naruto," Sasuke replied. "It's about damn time your luck was used for something other than evil. Though you could have saved some of the fun for us."

"Eh? What fun? This guy was way too easy! Anyway, I will carry the scrolls, since I'm the one who acquired our second one."

"All right fine, let's get to the tower so we don't have to fight anyone else until the next part of the exams."

"Good idea," Hinata replied.

"Yeah I second that," Naruto agreed. "If we move out now and fast, we can probably beat the ones who head straight for the tower to set traps to the place."

….

Temari and Kankuro were seriously confused right now, as they made their way through the forest, their youngest sibling leading the way. "Kankuro, do you think that Gaara has been acting a little odd lately?" Temari asked.

"Yeah, I mean he has not threatened to kill us more than once or twice over the past few days," Kankuro replied. "It's like the world is coming to an end all of a sudden."

"I can hear you both you know," Gaara stated, scaring the crap out of his two siblings. "If you do not enjoy the way I am acting, I could always…" he continued as the cork in his gourd shivered a little.

"NO, NO! We love the new you!" both the older siblings almost screamed in a panic.

Gaara chuckled mentally. Ever since he had gotten his memories back, he had been playing small jokes on both of his siblings. He was going to enjoy scaring them a little over the upcoming weeks…

….

"Darn the luck!" Kiba cursed. "Why couldn't have those morons have had an Earth scroll?"

"Well, we can still use the surplus one if we need to barter our way out of a situation," Sakura sighed. Team 8 had managed to trap another team in one of their little traps using leeches.

"Yeah, but… hey," Kiba sniffed the air as he came to a stop. "There are six scents over in that direction. I think we should check it out."

"I concur," Shino stated. "If there are two teams, possibly about to fight, the odds are good for them having the scroll we need. Not only that, but if they did fight each other, we have the opportunity to take advantage of the winning group being weakened."

"Well, let's not just stand here and talk about it, let's go," Sakura replied and they quickly went towards the direction Kiba had found the scents in. Upon arriving and spotting the six people facing off, they quickly hid in the bushes. And they watched in fear as Gaara fought the three ninja from the Hidden Rain Village.

…..

"That's not possible!" the lead ninja of the team shouted in denial, staring at the shield of sand that kept the needles of his attack from harming Gaara. "Those needles are capable of penetrating 5mm of steel!"

"It's just your rotten luck you had to go up against Gaara," Kankuro said smugly. "You guys are dead meat."

The leader of the Amegakure team charged, only for sand to wind around his ankles and before long, all but his face was covered in binding sand. Gaara proceeded to bind the other two in the same manner. "Which scroll do you have?" the young jinchuriki demanded, to the surprise of his two teammates, who were expecting him to just kill the three ninja right off the bat.

"Earth!" one of the shorter ones confessed in a panic.

"Darn, that's the same one we have," Temari muttered. "We should take it anyway, it will mean one less team will have a shot at passing…"

"If you value your lives then," Gaara stated as his sand wrapped a fallen tree branch and crushed it into splinters. It did not take the three long to get the message and they hastily nodded. Gaara released them from the sand coffins, though he left an ample amount around their necks as insurance. The shortest on immediately handed the scroll over and Gaara removed that sand as well. "Leave," the boy immediately told them. Once they were gone, Kankuro and Temari stared at Gaara in sheer shock. Before they could inquire however, Gaara turned to a few bushes and said, "You three, hiding in the bushes, you should come out now, or else you won't escape my sand."

Reluctantly, Team 8 emerged with their hands raised to show that they would not attempt to fight. "Which scroll do you three have?" Gaara asked.

"We happen to have two Heaven scrolls," Sakura replied fearfully.

"If that is the case, then that means between our two teams, all six of us should pass. I propose we trade a single Heaven and Earth scroll and head to the tower as a group." After Gaara said this, Kankuro and Temari were doing the most realistic fish impressions any one would ever see. If they had not just seen Gaara use his sand, Temari would have been certain they had an imposter in their midst, and Kankuro was busy trying to dispel whatever genjutsu he thought he was in.

"That sounds quite reasonable," Shino said as he tossed one of the Heaven scrolls to Gaara, and the latter delivered the surplus Earth scroll with his sand. "Then let's get going."

….

"Just keep running, Hinata! Naruto will be fine!" Sasuke was shouting. On the way to the tower, they had been ambushed by a Grass genin, who had assaulted the team with a powerful wind jutsu that had blown an "off guard" Naruto away. It became clear to Sasuke shortly afterwards that the genin was on a level way beyond them. _"Of all the times to not be able to use Mangekyo Sharingan," _he cursed in his head.

_Flashback_

_"Sasuke, once the exams start, you may well be tempted to show off all of your abilities," the woman known as Ceilia was telling the boy. "I don't need to tell you that this is not a wise course of action to take. That is why your brother has asked me to place a seal on your eyes for the duration so that you cannot use Mangekyo Sharingan, to remove the temptation."_

_"What? Why?" Sasuke demanded as he contemplated going against other people taking the exams without his greatest weapon._

_"Because you should stand a good chance already against other teams taking the exams. Mangekyo Sharingan is a very dangerous power, one that will more than likely kill your enemies without you meaning to, and its use brings blindness, as you already know. Plus, the exams, while important, are not the sort of thing you should use this ocular ability to get through. Even if you are sure that you can resist the temptation, it is easy to end up thinking about using your strongest powers to expedite a battle against a stronger foe, even if you could win without it."_

_"But what if I actually do get into a situation where I actually need it to survive?"_

_"We have already thought of that. Naruto is progressing fast in fuinjutsu, and we will be giving him the formula to remove the seal in case of emergency."_

_"Tch, fine, though I don't like it."_

_End Flashback_

What Sasuke did not know was that the real reason, though the ones given were also good ones, were to make sure that he did not use it against Orochimaru. They still needed to make sure that he got the curse mark, and they also did not want to let Sasuke get unnecessarily closer to blindness. Letting him have access to Mangekyo Sharingan was too risky in the fact that it would give Sasuke a chance to fight the snake off, and there was also the fear of Orochimaru getting so interested in Sasuke that he would kidnap him right away.

Sasuke quickly pulled Hinata into a hiding place and told her to keep quiet. He was still cursing his lack of Mangekyo, and the fact that the only one who could release the seal had to get himself blown away. He would not have noticed the snake about to bite him if Hinata had not shouted out a warning…

….

Naruto stood next to the remains of the popped snake. Just as before, he let the summons eat him, before he spammed his clones inside the snake. End result was the same as before. He quickly sent a single clone to the location of his teammates.

….

Sasuke watched in terror as the Grass genin rose from the hide of the giant snake summons he had killed with a few well placed shuriken. "Well done so far Sasuke, but you are not nearly good enough yet," she said. "Not if you want to kill the man responsible for your clan's lost honor…"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked shakily. "They were the ones who tried to start a coup, and its leader, my father, is already dead."

"Ah, but you see, that is only the end result. The catalyst was the betrayal of the man known as Madara Uchiha, when he fought against the Shodaime Hokage. This had led to mistrust of your clan from the village, which only increased when the Kyuubi attacked the village nearly 13 years ago, because Madara was the one controlling it."

_"So Madara is the bastard who took away any respect the village had for the Uchiha…"_

"It is only natural that the clan could no longer take the blame, and decided on an uprising, though your father was in actuality spurred on by Madara, who was operating from the shadows again." Sasuke's eyes narrowed at this. "Your brother may have been the one whose hands killed Fugaku, but Madara is the true reason he died. Do you not want revenge? If you were to kill the man and bring his head back to Konoha, that would bring the justice the village and your clan need for the waters between them to finally calm. But for that, you need more power…"

Sasuke's hands tightened. The suffering the clan and the village had gone through was all the fault of a single Uchiha, and this Grass genin was right about one thing… Madara did have to die for his crimes, and Sasuke would like nothing better than to be the one to do it. If not him, then at least another Uchiha, for it was their honor that Madara had been stepping on all this time…

"Don't listen to her Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he landed next to his friend and comrade. "Revenge is not the way to go, and besides, I seriously doubt she would give you power to achieve it for free."

"Naruto-kun, thank heaven you are alright!" Hinata cried.

"Good of you to show up Dobe," Sasuke declared. "Now could you-"

"Sorry Sasuke, I am just a clone, and I don't have the chakra to undo that seal," the clone stated. "The original is in the middle of fighting one of these lady's huge ass snakes. I am going to dispel so he knows where we are and can come to help. Sorry Sasuke, but that means you are going to have to fight her. You will last longer that way than exposing your back by running, and I don't want to have to find you again. So quit being a pansy." With that, the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hinata stay back, it's me she is after," Sasuke told her in a determined tone. He was not going to run away, not after what Naruto told him, but he did not want his other teammate getting hurt.

"B-but Sasuke-kun," Hinata protested, not wanting to abandon her comrade.

"Don't argue with me! I have to hold her off as long as I can, and I can't do that if I have to worry about you as well!" With that, he ran at the Grass genin, pulling out his sword and activating his three tomoe Sharingan as he went. Immediately, the genin pulled out a kunai and engaged in a battle of blades. Initially, no ground was given, but as she raised her kunai to block another strike from Sasuke's sword, he smirked and channeled lightning chakra through it, giving the blade a keener edge that easily cut through the kunai. The genin quickly jumped back, but Sasuke still managed to graze her, giving her a long gash across the chest, though it was not deep enough to affect the outcome of the battle.

"Kukukukuku… impressive, but you will have to do better than that," she chuckled and her tongue lashed out, knocking the sword from Sasuke's hand and wrapping around his neck. Using the freakish appendage, she lifted Sasuke off of his feet and started to strangle him.

"Ungh… Chidori Stream!" he managed to cry out as the lightning chakra was quickly channeled through his body, giving the Grass genin an extremely painful jolt, causing her to release him. Not giving her a chance to recover, he threw several shuriken and kunai at her, which she still managed to dodge, only to get caught in the wires he had attached to them, and she was slammed against a tree and bound to it. Sasuke immediately followed up by casting hand signs. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" The blast raced straight along the wires towards the trapped genin, and she screamed as she was caught in the blaze.

Sasuke bent down and placed his hands on his knees, panting. Hinata came to check on him when they were both suddenly frozen by a genjutsu. Sasuke managed to turn his head to where the genin had broken from the wires, and to his horror, noticed that her face had… crinkled and was peeling away at one corner to reveal another, paler face. "Well, well, Sasuke you did very well indeed," she said and Sasuke noted with horror that her voice had changed to a male's, and she… he reached for his headband and rubbed it to reveal a Sound Village insignia. "But it is here we must part ways… for now. I am Orochimaru." Sasuke's eyes widened as he recognized the name. "I will see you again Sasuke, when you seek me out for power. Now… before I leave… I will give you a parting gift." With those words, Orochimaru's neck suddenly elongated and his head went straight for Sasuke, who was still unable to move enough to escape.

The Snake Sannin's mouth latched onto Sasuke's neck, leaving two puncture marks, before he withdrew. Sasuke was screaming in pain at this point. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he finally arrived, landing right next to his fellow teammates. He noted the mark forming on Sasuke's neck. "Hinata, we've got to get him to the tower, right now!" Hinata nodded, pulled one of Sasuke's arms around her neck and rose. Naruto took the other arm and gave a final glance in the direction Orochimaru had gone. If looks could kill, the Jyuubi itself would have keeled over from the one Naruto was shooting at the retreating figure.

…...

Team 7 made it to the tower about an hour later, Sasuke having passed out on the way. They were lucky enough that no one else had come across them as they had fled. Upon arriving in the main lobby, Naruto quickly opened both scrolls and tossed them down. Itachi had appeared and after a brief explanation as to what had occurred, had Sasuke rushed to the medical bay. Naruto and Hinata meanwhile took the opportunity to rest.

…..

It was a couple days later when Anko and a few ANBU that had found her weakened by her own cursed seal, arrived to the tower and were in the midst of meeting with Minato, after he had treated the pain the seal gave her with some assistance from Kushina. Anko had run into Orochimaru in the forest and after a brief confrontation, learned that the snake had marked Sasuke. She wanted the exams called off, but Minato refused, having already discussed the matter with Felix after Team 7 had made it to the tower.

Meanwhile, Naruto was training a little with Hinata while they were waiting for Sasuke to awaken. Hinata's mind had been set at ease when the medics said that Sasuke would survive, so Naruto suggested that they take the last few days of the second exam to finish the jutsu he had been teaching her. She almost completely had it down.

Gaara's team and Team 8 had arrived before Team 7, and though Sakura was anxious to see Sasuke, she seemed in control of herself, much to Naruto's surprise. She had been such a fangirl, her only rival in that respect being Ino. What kind of training had Kurenai put her through?

Sasuke had woken up, and Kushina put the curse seal under one of her own seals as a temporary measure, for Ceilia would need more than a few days to fix the curse seal to the group's specifications, and the preliminaries of the third exam would begin sooner.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Naruto asked Sasuke as the latter arrived at the mess hall.

"I have been better," Sasuke replied. "That Orochimaru really did a number on me with this stupid thing." He rubbed his neck absently.

"At least Mom did a decent job sealing it, who knows what that thing could do to you unchecked? Ceilia said she could take a look at it later, and her sealing expertise puts even Mom and Dad's to shame, so whatever that snake bastard did, you won't have to worry about for long."

"Any other teams make it to the tower yet?"

"That Sand team arrived with Team 8 before we did. The Sound team also showed up, followed by Neji's team. I wonder how he's doing, it has been a while since I saw him. That Kabuto guy was the last to arrive with his team so far."

"So that is six teams so far, including ours. I wonder if anyone else will come?"

"Call me crazy, but I have a hunch that Shikamaru, Choji and Ino will be here."

"That lazy bum, the fatty, and the tied for first fangirl? Give me a break," Sasuke said before he sensed a large level of killing intent behind him. Whipping around he saw said fatty glaring at him, with Shikamaru and Ino coming behind him. "Help me…" Sasuke muttered as he now had to worry about the fangirl and an angry Choji.

"Sorry Teme, you are on your own for this," Naruto grinned.

"Screw you Dobe," Sasuke snapped before he ran for his life through the hall.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as he watched his two teammates both chase Sasuke, each for different reasons.

"Everything is troublesome to you, Shikamaru," Naruto chuckled. "If it was not required for life, you would probably think the same thing about breathing. By the way, how did you guys get your scroll?"

"Just this morning, there was a team heading for the tower, and we had Ino take over the body of the leader, who was carrying both scrolls, she dropped the one we needed when the other two were not looking. When they were a fair distance away, she came back to her body and we were able to get to the tower just about half an hour ago with no more problems. It was still troublesome…"

"Good afternoon Naruto-san," Neji said as he entered the mess hall alone. "It has been a while since we last spoke."

"Yeah, you practically disappeared on me after you graduated a year before I did," Naruto accused good naturedly.

"I apologize, I have been on many missions with my team, and even when we are in the village, Gai-sensei keeps us all on a very strict training regiment."

"Sounds troublesome," Shikamaru groaned as he thought about it.

"I hope Lady Hinata was not harmed during her time in the forest?" Neji asked.

"She did fine Neji," Naruto replied. "She got out alright."

"That is good to hear. She is like a sister to me, but it seems that she has been given a bad hand by fate. I worry that she is not strong enough to be a shinobi."

"Yeah, yeah I told you to shut up about that fate crap when you are around me," Naruto grumbled. Even though he had saved Neji's father, resulting in him lacking his former hatred for the Main Family, he still somehow got fixated on fate. It was probably because Hizashi felt it was fate that he was forced to serve the Main Family.

"Right, sorry, I know you don't hold much stock in that," Neji replied.

"The point is, Hinata has gotten stronger than you know lately. I think she may end up surprising you."

…..

The next day, all teams had gathered in the tower's arena. It was the day of the prelims. They were all given an explanation as to why there would be prelims and Kabuto dropped out as he had done last time. Then the proctor Hayate told them that the screen would randomly select two combatants and told all of them to be prepared. Naruto anxiously watched the screen and the two opponents were displayed for all to see.

Sasuke Uchiha vs. Sakura Haruno.

**A/N: The three on one poll against Raizen closes after two more chapters, so you need to go to my profile and vote soon! I will open another poll soon after, once the invasion is done.**

**The prelims of the third round will play out next chapter, so stick around. If you have any requests for the upcoming matchups, let me know and I will see what I can do.**

** Oddly, I have only had 3 reveiws for the last chapter. I must be slipping a little. Start sending me more reviews please, because if I don't have 100 soon, I will start holding the next few chapters for ransom!**


	15. Chapter 14: Preliminaries

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: The preliminaries begin at this point, and the first match is Sasuke vs. Sakura! Who saw that one coming? I intend to get through most of the fights in this chapter.**

**Chapter 14: Preliminaries **

_"Great, it looks like I am stuck fighting a fan girl," _Sasuke thought with a mental groan. "_Sakura does seem more competent than before, but any second now she will go fan girl on me again."_

_"I will show everyone her that I am not just some weak little thing that can only dote on Sasuke anymore!" _Sakura mentally shouted. _"I have not given up on getting Sasuke's attention yet, but thanks to Kurenai-sensei, I know that I am a kunoichi now, not just a regular girl!_

_Flashback_

_Sakura was groaning after the rough treatment she had gotten at her teacher's hands during training. "Kiba, Shino, you two go home," Kurenai told the two panting boys. "Sakura, I want a word with you. Why did you even bother becoming a shinobi? You have done almost no training to speak of ever since you became a genin, except what I have forced you to do. In short, you are too weak to be a shinobi." Sakura's protests were cut off when Kurenai continued, "You are either going to have to give up being a kunoichi, or stop trying so hard to get that Uchiha's attention. I know full well that your only reason you only became a genin to impress the boy, but you are going to have to grow up! He has no interest in you as you are now. You harass him all the time, and he is no doubt annoyed that he is the only reason you became a shinobi. If you want to impress him as one, then stop focusing so much and work on your abilities!"_

_Sakura flinched at Kurenai's words. Somehow, she knew that her sensei was right about this. If she wanted to have a chance with Sasuke, she would have to become a stronger kunoichi and stop being such a yes-girl to him. The next day, as a sign of her resolve, she cut her hair to keep it from getting in the way of her training and missions._

_End Flashback_

"Are you both ready to begin?" Hayate asked the two genin. When they both nodded, "Begin!"

Sakura surprised Sasuke when she took out two kunai and threw them at him with no hesitation. _"Wait, she is actually fighting me?" _Sasuke thought in shock as he dodged she closed the distance between them and started throwing punches. _"Where the hell did that fan girl go?"_ He blocked a punch, sidestepped a kick, ducked a high sweeping one and punched her in the side, causing her to gasp and back off. He held back, not wanting to get too excessive against her.

He was surprised again when she glared up at him and demanded, "Well? When are you going to attack me? You had the advantage after that hit. Or do you think that I am just the same weak fan girl who will keel over after that one blow?" She threw a few kunai at him and he dodged again and threw some of his own at her. She ducked and charged again. He was about to meet the rush when she jumped back again, tossing a kunai at him. He cart wheeled away from it and she was on him again, and actually managed to land a punch on his face before he could block it. He skidded backwards before recovering and slamming Sakura with a roundhouse kick that threw her painfully to the ground, though she got up quickly.

"Have it your way, Sakura," Sasuke said as he spit some blood out. "If it is that important to you, the gloves come off."

"Good," she replied and started casting hand signs. "Ninja Art: Flower Profusion!" Sasuke frowned as several petals from multiple types of flowers obscured his view. He quickly dispelled the genjutsu to find that Sakura had moved to the side and was running along the wall. She threw a few more kunai at him and he jumped to the side and saw the air behind the kunai to shimmer and exploding tags come into view as the genjutsu that hid them faded.

"Shi-" he started as the tags exploded. He was able to leap back from the worst of it, though he was still a little bit burned. Sakura leapt from the wall with a kunai in hand and Sasuke quickly drew his sword to block. Before he could, Sakura burst into flower petals, proving to be an illusion that she had made during the previous explosion, while the real Sakura had never left the wall, and threw some more exploding tags attached to kunai at Sasuke. The Uchiha had seen such a tactic coming however, and managed to fling shuriken at the kunai, intercepting them and knocking them back a little before they exploded, catching Sakura in the blast. When the smoke cleared, she was slumped against the wall, the shockwave having slammed her back into the wall and knocking her out.

"Winner by knockout, Sasuke Uchiha!" Hayate declared.

_"Wow, Sakura has improved a lot from the previous timeline," _Naruto mused. _"Kurenai must have been a better sensei for her, if that genjutsu was anything to judge by. But she still was no match for Sasuke. He did not even need to use the Sharingan or any big jutsu against her."_

Sasuke walked over to where Sakura had fallen and pulled helped her up as she came to. "Darn, I guess I wasn't strong enough after all," she groaned as she leaned on the boy's shoulder with her arm around his neck.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sasuke replied, helping her up the steps. "You actually gave me a run for my money there. I honestly thought you were just another one of my annoying fan girls, but you seem to have grown up a little. How about it, if you are still interested, we can try going out after the exams."

"YES! A MILLION TIMES- er, sorry old habit," she said sheepishly as Sasuke sweat dropped and he sighed.

"No need, I was expecting worse. Like on the same level as that behavior there, only the opposite." Sakura looked to where Sasuke was looking at and spotted Ino trying to hang herself with Shikamaru and Choji trying frantically to prevent it.

She chuckled as he set her against the wall and went back to the railing next to Naruto, Hinata and Itachi to watch the next fight. "Yeah, I guess I could be worse."

"I see you finally have a girlfriend Sasuke," Itachi teased.

"Not yet big brother, I want to get to know her a little better before we go that far."

The screen showed the next fight.

Choji Akimichi vs. Gaara

"Oh man, I am not sure I want to fight that guy," Choji said with a little fear. "He kind of creeps me out."

"Oh relax, if you win, I will buy you all the barbecue you can eat," Asuma baited.

"Let me at 'im!" Choji shouted, having somehow materialized onto the floor of the arena, causing Asuma and Shikamaru to sweat drop. Ino was too busy crying in the corner over Sasuke dating Sakura to care.

"I am ready as well," Gaara stated.

"Begin!"

Choji immediately dashed at Gaara and cast his jutsu, "Expansion Jutsu! Human Boulder!" The gigantic ball of death rolled straight at Gaara, only to be slammed into the side by a wave of sand, knocking it off course and into the wall. The sand immediately covered Choji, preventing him from trying again.

"I give," Choji grumbled.

"Winner by surrender, Gaara of the Sand!"

Choji was released and hung his head in defeat as he headed back up the steps. "Oh well, I think I will still get him barbecue," Asuma said.

"Since when was Gaara so merciful and reasonable?" Kankuro asked his sister, who shrugged.

"I don't know. He has been acting quite strange lately."

Needless to say, Baki was also showing confusion.

Once Gaara was back up to the railing the board showed the next fight.

Shikamaru Nara vs. Tenten

"Aw man, I'm fighting a girl? **(A/N: Yeah, I know, he's cursed, lol)** Troublesome," Shikamaru said just loud enough to be heard, causing Tenten to twitch and develop a tick mark.

"Oh yeah? You want to take it down here you bum?!" she shouted as she leapt over the railing into the arena. "Hurry up so that this _girl_ can beat you!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," the Nara replied as he descended the steps at leisurely pace.

When he was finally facing his opponent, Hayate shouted, "Begin!"

Shikamaru immediately formed his hand sign and his shadow raced right towards Tenten. "Oh no you don't!" she yelled at him as she dashed out of range of the jutsu and threw her shuriken at the lazy boy. "I know how your clan's jutsu works, and how far it can stretch!" The Nara dodged the shuriken and Tenten pulled out two scrolls with the declaration, "I'm gonna wrap this up fast, since you think we girls are weak! Twin Rising Dragons!"

"That Nara boy must have really ticked her off," Neji was saying to Naruto while they watched Tenten jump between the two spiraling scrolls. "She was saving that for the finals. I knew she hated sexists."

"Lady, I never said girls were weak," Shikamaru said with a sigh. "All I meant was that they were troublesome to figh- OH SHIT!" He found himself frantically dodging as Tenten started furiously throwing a barrage of weapons at him, and whenever he dodged the initial attacks, wires attached to them were used to manipulate the weapons into attacking him again. Fortunately for him, he was analytical enough to spot the wires and guess their purpose, leading him to be able to dodge the worst of the assault fairly well, though he pretty much covered the entire ground of the arena with his running and got some very deep scratches from attacks he had failed to completely dodge or block with his kunai. Once the assault was over, Tenten landed right into the center of the arena.

"Ha, still think I am a weakling?" She asked Shikamaru, who was sitting against the arena wall in a hunched position that hid his hands a little. "I have plenty more where that came from, and I doubt you are in any shape to continue- what the!?" she demanded as her body suddenly froze up and shivered. "How- your shadow should not be able to reach this far! The surface area is not that large!"

"It was that assumption that was your downfall," Shikamaru said as he got somewhat shakily to his feet. He started to circle the arena with Tenten imitating his movements. "You see, though you knew a little about my clan's abilities, you were clearly ignorant of the fact that we could extend our range by connecting our shadow to others. This led you to not even bothering to watch for my shadow when you thought you were out of its range, allowing me to catch you fairly easily."

"But wait, what other shadows did you- now way!" she cried as she saw all of her weapons littered across the arena, all casting shadows and the ones between her and Shikamaru having the latter's shadow linked to theirs.

"That's right, I used the result of your own handiwork against you. I even took the precaution of making sure to use the entire arena to dodge, so that the entire floor would be littered with your weapons sticking out of them, just in case you dodged initially. That way, no matter where you went to escape, I would have plenty of shadows to work with to catch you, though it was clearly unnecessary. Troublesome." They finished circling, with Shikamaru near where Tenten had stood in the middle of the arena earlier, and Tenten about ten feet away from the wall.

_"Impressive," _Temari was thinking. _"He came up with a strategy like that on the fly, with the pressure of having an entire arsenal being launched at him, and even made sure to plan ahead in the case of his initial attempts to catch her failing."_

It was clear that Temari was not the only one who was impressed. Most of the other genin were looking at Shikamaru in their own silent appreciation, Sasuke, Neji and Gaara included. Even the jonin proctors, Zabuza included, were thinking that Shikamaru would make a brilliant strategist in the future and Minato was thinking, _"Dang, genius intellect must run in the family. I always did have trouble against Shikaku when playing Shogi or Go with him, though I have managed to beat him on occasion."_

_"Checkmate," _Asuma thought with a smug look at Gai, who was weeping anime tears.

_"I had forgotten how ingenious Shikamaru was,"_ Naruto mused._ "Maybe I should talk Felix into restoring his memories too… his intellect would come in handy for changing the future."_

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Shikamaru said to Tenten. "The easy way is that you surrender. The hard way is that I run full speed backwards and throw my weight backwards, slamming your head into the way I positioned you near, giving you a concussion. Honestly, I would prefer the easy way, since that would save the energy of running backwards, but it's your call."

"I withdraw," Tenten said reluctantly. "I honestly have to take enough headache medicine dealing with Gai-sensei and Lee."

"Winner by surrender, Shikamaru Nara!"

"That was so troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled as he gingerly walked back up the steps, wincing at the cuts Tenten gave him.

"I can't believe I let him beat me," Tenten mumbled, taking her place next to her teammates.

"It's not your fault, Tenten," Lee told her sympathetically. "The intelligence of the Nara clan is well known for its youthfulness!"

Kiba Inuzuka vs. Dosu Kinuta

"Aw right, time for me to shine!" Kiba declared as he and Akamaru jumped down to the arena.

"Sure you want to do this Mutt?" Dosu asked. "You have no idea how bad the matchup between the two of us is."

"Shut up!" Kiba shouted and Hayate called the match to start. Kiba took a food pill and gave one to Akamaru as well. "Ninja Art: Beast Imitation Jutsu! Down on all Fours Technique!" Kiba went down on all fours and stated for Akamaru, "Ninja Art: Human Mimicry Jutsu!" The now red furred dog turned into a clone of Kiba, and they charged Dosu, with their attack that imitated fast spinning drills. "Fang over Fang!"

"Pathetic," Dosu said as he slammed his fist on his gauntlet to create the sound waves for his attack, and unleashed them full force at the two, confident that the power of the attack combined with the extra sensitive hearing of the Inuzuka's would easily cripple his foe, only for his eye to widen in horror as the attackers just kept coming regardless, and he had not left enough time to dodge. Desperate, he raised his gauntlet to block, but it was an insufficient defense against the two drills, which shattered the gauntlet and collided full force with the Sound ninja, throwing him back with enough power to put a sizable crater in the wall he hit. "How?" Dosu asked as he struggled and failed to rise. "That sound wave combined with that overly sensitive hearing of yours should have been more than enough to ensure your downfall!"

"Heh heh," Kiba said as he and Akamaru reached up to their ears and pulled out plugs that were very solid. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I couldn't hear ya the first time."

"What?" Dosu cried in shock. "But, how did you know?"

"You were very foolish to show your attack against that Kabuto before the exams even began," Kiba boasted. "Normally, me and Akamaru's hearing would have been a weakness against that ability, but while you had directed the sound waves to Kabuto's ear, making sure no one else heard it, enough of the waves reached us and we were able to hear it. After that, it was easy for us to figure out how it worked, and when we knew that your team made it to the tower, we made sure to have these plugs beforehand, just in case we faced ya. And lo and behold, the moment we saw my name next to yours, we put the plugs in before the match even started. Our reaction to that taunt was just acting, because it was not hard to get the gist of what you were saying, even if we couldn't hear ya."

Dosu passed out a few seconds after the explanation and Hayate declared, "Winner by knockout, Kiba Inuzuka!"

"Well, that was a rare flash of brilliance," Sakura told Kiba when he came back up to the landing, and he laughed. Dosu was carried out of the room on a stretcher.

"Heh, I may not have many of them, but I _do_ have my moments from time to time," Kiba admitted modestly.

"What a fool, letting his guard down like that," Zaku was telling his remaining teammate.

"Yeah, he let himself get beat way too easily by an opponent that should have been easy for him," Kin replied. "Oh, hold on, I am up."

Kin Tsuchi vs. Kankuro

"Great, I am fighting an ally," Kankuro muttered so that only Temari could hear.

"Don't let that stop you," Temari told the puppet master before he joined Kin in the arena.

"Begin!"

Kankuro immediately removed the bundle from his back, but Kin quickly dashed forward and kicked it from his hand before he could do anything with it before she jumped back and threw several senbon with bells attached. "That old trick?" He scoffed as he dodged them. "I take it that you mean to throw some without bells along with the bells next time, am I right?"

"Not that simple," she stated before Kankuro heard the bells again behind him and turned around to realize that she had attached cords to the bells and were ringing them with said cords. He turned again and this time he was tagged by several of Kin's senbon. "And now you are in my genjutsu," she laughed. "If you haven't figured it out already, the bells sound waves are what induce it, so you are now helpless! Now to finish-" she broke off as she saw Kankuro rise again and laugh.

"Sorry, but your genjutsu got the wrong target!" Kankuro declared as he charged her. Too late, she realized that there _was no blood _where hersenbon hit. His face peeled off to reveal a puppet's and said puppet jumped on her, wrapping its limbs around her and tightened its grip to bone crushing levels. As she screamed in pain, her bones breaking, the bundle Kankuro had unwrapped to reveal the real Sand ninja.

"I am calling the match!" Hayate shouted. "The winner is Kankuro!"

"Nice work," Temari said to her brother when he came back up with a satisfied smirk, while a sobbing Kin was carried out of the room on a stretcher like her teammate.

"Yes, very well done Kankuro," Gaara said with a small smile, causing both of his elder siblings to gawk at him and look at the ceiling with every expectation that a meteor was going to come crashing through it at any second now.

Shino Aburame vs. Misumi Tsurugi.

With no words at all, Shino calmly walked down to the arena and faced off against his opponent.

"Begin!"

Both combatants rushed each other and Misumi threw a punch, which Shino blocked, only to watch in surprise as Misumi's arm wrapped around his. Before most people knew what was happening, the spy had the Aburame wrapped up in his elastic limbs and was in a position to snap the boy's neck.

"A unique and impressive ability, isn't it?" Misumi asked. "I have had my body modified to be able to able to dislocate all of my joints at will, as well as soften my limbs and control them with my chakra. The result is the inescapable hold I have you in now. Surrender, or I shall break your neck like a twig."

"Sorry, but both options are not to my taste, so I will take a third course of action," Shino replied calmly.

"Fool! Do you wish to die? What the-?" Misumi demanded as he suddenly felt his energy draining. He looked down in terror as he saw the insects covering his body, and consuming his chakra. He quickly tried to make good on his threat, but Shino's neck did not break, for he reinforced the joints internally with his insects and Misumi did not have much strength anymore and he collapsed, releasing Shino and Hayate called the match.

"Nice work Shino," Kurenai said proudly once her student had come back to the group. "You and Kiba both won your matches quickly, and with good tactics as well. And Sakura, even though you lost your match, you have made me proud of your progress. You three are all worthy of the title of shinobi, whether you become chunin or not."

"Thank you, Kurenai-sensei," Kiba said as he teared up, and Shino nodded in acknowledgement of his teacher's encouragement.

"I just wish that I did not have to fight Sasuke-kun," Sakura said. "Though I suppose it worked out to a way I wanted, even if I lost."

Kurenai smiled at them as the next match was displayed. Naruto blinked and thought, _"Huh, I suppose some things are meant to be… no, don't think that! You sound like Neji when you do!"_

Neji Hyuuga vs. Hinata Hyuuga.

"Do your best, Neji-san!" Lee shouted to his rival. "I wish to engage you in a most youthful battle in the finals, so don't you dare lose!"

"Do not worry Lee, I do not intend to hold back against her, even if we are family," Neji responded, though he seemed somewhat torn. He jumped into the arena and Hinata joined him.

"Begin!" Hayate yelled.

"Lady Hinata, I ask you to surrender," Neji said as Hinata started to enter her Gentle Fist stance. "I have no desire to harm you. It is decreed that you are no match for me. You are far too kind to be a shinobi."

"Don't listen to him, Hinata!" Naruto shouted. "Fate does not have the final say on anything! It only says what is likely, not what is for sure! You can choose your own path, and I have already told you that your kindness is not a weakness!"

"Naruto, I know your point of view on my beliefs," Neji said as he glared up at the blonde. "It is also clear that you think Hinata can defeat me, but you are wrong. And though we may have been friends for years, if you try to force my cousin into this fight that she cannot win, I will not forgive you."

"No Neji," Hinata declared with conviction. "You are the one who is wrong. I… I have to stop running from my battles!" Her Byakugan activated. "Ever since I have been on Naruto's team, I have learned to abandon my fears that I could never get stronger, and that I was not fit to be a shinobi! Naruto is the one who has motivated me to come this far, and I will not let him down now! That is my final word, and I won't go back on it. Because, like him, that is my nindo, my Ninja Way!"

Neji gave Naruto one last hard look before he faced his cousin. "All right then," he sighed. "As much as I hate to raise my hand against you, Lady Hinata, you have forced it. And my pride will not allow me to hold back, no matter who I am up against!" His Byakugan activated and he entered his taijutsu stance.

Immediately, the two Hyuugas dashed for each other and started exchanging blows, bursts of chakra made visible from their palms as each blow was deflected. At one point, Hinata managed to nick Neji slightly, though she was unable to get any chakra in his system.

"Did she get him?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe," Naruto replied. "It is just a scratch, but that is all it would take with that style of fighting."

"Naruto-san is correct," Lee said, and both he and Naruto explained how the Gentle Fist style worked in conjunction with the Hyuuga clan's bloodline.

"How do you two know so much about that?" Sakura asked as they finished.

"It helps when you have a member of the clan in question on your team," Naruto answered modestly.

"And fight them on a regular basis," Lee added.

Meanwhile, Hinata pressed her attack, and seemed to have Neji against the wall. However, Neji was merely baiting her, and struck for her chest, the same blow that tagged her last time. Key word: last time. Thanks to Naruto, Hinata had gained her confidence sooner than this point this time around, so her abilities had increased to a level that was beyond what she had in this point in time last time. As a result, she was able to see the counter blow coming and immediately veered to the side. The attack still managed to get her shoulder and Neji's chakra entered her system, but it was not nearly as bad a blow as what had happened before. She struck at his side but he dodged and extending two of his fingers, pressed them fast on her outstretched arm.

As she backed off, Neji looked at her and said, "It seems I barely missed…"

"Your eyes," she said as she panted, clutching her sore left shoulder. "Can they really see the tenketsu?"

"Yes they can."

"I see. Then I have to try harder." She made a hand sign and Neji's eyes widened as she shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five more of her sprang into existence.

"Naruto, is that the jutsu you have been teaching her?" Sasuke asked as three Hinata clones engaged Neji in close quarters while the original and the other two clones started using mid to long range combat water style attacks.

"Yes and no," Naruto replied while watching Neji skillfully avoid the worst of the attacks and he popped two of the close range clones. "I taught her that, but that was to help her progress with the other technique I was teaching her. She just got it down yesterday."

"You didn't…" Sasuke deadpanned as he saw the blonde's rather cheesy grin. "You did, didn't you?"

"Blast!" Neji cursed when he slipped on water that one of the clones had just created and sent right behind his feet while he was being forced to back up by the remaining close quarters clone. He quickly regained his balance but was now in a tight spot as all four remaining Hinatas closed in, the original and another one using the Water Whip Jutsu. "No choice… Kaiten!" he declared as a cocoon of chakra surrounded him and he rapidly spun, and all of the Hinatas were thrown back, the clones dispelling and the original being slammed into the wall.

"That jutsu," she panted as she rose shakily. "How did you…?"

"I was able to reverse engineer it," Neji said simply. "As well as this one… You are within my range of divination…" Hinata gasped as she saw Neji enter the stance of the Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms Technique.

_"I can't let him use that on me!" _Hinata thought desperately._ "No choice!"_ "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Another clone came into being next to her and she held out her hand to it. The clone immediately started weaving her hands her palm, and a sphere of chakra came into being.

"Wait, since when did I give Naruto permission to teach that jutsu to just anybody?" Minato asked Kushina as he frowned up at his son.

"I think he has just as much right to it as you do sweetie," the red head replied. When Minato raised his eyebrows, she continued, "After all, he did complete it before you did."

"Complete," Hinata said as her clone dispelled, leaving the jutsu in her hand.

"It does not matter what you do!" Neji shouted as he charged. "Fate has decreed that you will fall to me here!"

"I challenge my fate!" Hinata replied as she charged as well. Neji, realizing that continuing his attack would be suicidal, skidded to a halt and instead shouted, "Kaiten!"

"Rasengan!" The spiraling sphere slammed into the swirling dome with explosive force, and both attack and defense battled for supremacy.

**A/N: Author Art: Cliffhanger Jutsu! The preliminaries conclude next chapter. What was the most surprising thing about the chapter? If anyone says it was Hinata knowing the Rasengan, I will hurt them, because I have made that obvious to anyone paying attention. **

**I hope no one minds me having Sakura know a few genjutsu. I thought it would make at least a little sense, considering that her sensei in this story is Kurenai, and I think that her potential in that field that the story frequently mentioned was wasted, since she never learned any, other than the standard clones. It was one of Kishimoto's biggest errors in my opinion, and that is saying a bit, since I am not a big fan of genjutsu.**

**The poll closes upon the posting of next chapter, so hurry up and vote! Stay tuned, and please review!**


	16. Chapter 15: Matchups and Plans

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger guys! The preliminaries will conclude this chapter, and the matchups for the next round will also be decided. More preparations will also be decided on for the chapter.**

**Chapter 15: Matchups and Plans**

The Rasengan grinded against Neji's Kaiten for several seconds, and it seemed as though the defense would repel the attack for a moment. However, just as the Rasengan started to destabilize, it penetrated the dome slightly, and the rotation was stopped, the chakra dispersing. Hinata's inertia carried her straight at Neji, whose eyes widened at the rapidly expanding sphere as it came apart. The Rasengan exploded a few feet from Neji's torso, blowing both Hyuugas backwards, though Neji got the worst of the attack, because Hinata managed to force most of the explosion in his direction with her chakra.

They both skidded quite painfully before they came to a halt, and Hinata was able to rise to her feet shakily. Neji tried to follow suit, but his legs simply would not support him. Hinata walked back up to him and said, "Neji, you need to realize that there is no such thing as a fate that cannot be changed. I will be the first to tell you that life has many hard roads and sometimes the choices you have are limited. However, all roads have forks in them somewhere down the line, and no one but the one walking them has the power to decide which path they take. The roads themselves have little say in that, even if one path seems easier or harder than the other, only the travelers themselves can decide which course to follow.

"I may have been following a path of weakness and unwillingness to fight before, but I have chosen to take the less beaten path to becoming stronger," she continued as she headed back to the steps when Neji tried and failed again to rise. "I will still be kind enough to avoid hurting others when I can, but I will learn to fight, and even kill, if I must. And if you don't like the roads that fate has paved for you, then fight to make a new one. If I, a so called failure could do so, it should be no problem for you, because you really are a genius."

"Winner, Hinata Hyuuga!" Hayate declared when Neji finally collapsed, and the medics came to retrieve him.

Lee jumped down to his teammate and looked at him in concern. "Neji-san, are you-"

"I will recover, Lee," Neji replied, being placed onto the stretcher. "I am sorry, that I was not able to make it to the finals to face you."

"It is regrettable, but I forgive you. Your battle was most youthful, though I wish that I could have been your opponent instead."

"It was a good fight. Perhaps… fate is not omnipotent after all." With that, the medics carried him away and Lee returned to the balcony, where Gai was shedding anime tears over the fact that so far both of his students had lost.

"Itachi, Asuma!" Gai declared at both of his fellow jonin. "You had better hope that Lee is not matched up against either of your remaining students, or else he will avenge his own fallen teammates!"

"You are probably right," Asuma mumbled as he tried and failed to come up with a realistic scenario where Ino could beat Lee.

"I'm sorry Gai, did you say something?" Itachi asked taking a leaf from Kakashi's book on dealing with the taijutsu specialist. "Your words were drowned out by my thoughts of three for three in the finals and zero for three in the finals." A certain ANBU in a dog mask next to Minato suddenly started coughing to hide his laughter.

"Darn it Itachi, only Kakashi gets to have that attitude with me!" Gai shouted angrily.

"Good going Hinata," Naruto grinned as the girl plopped down on the floor exhausted from using Shadow Clones.

"T-thank you Naruto-kun," Hinata replied. "I almost thought I would lose that fight near the end, but I remembered to have faith in myself, thanks to all that you taught me. I… I want to thank you, Naruto for helping me get this far."

"Naw, it's no biggie. Besides, I only nudged you in the right direction. It was all you from that point."

The screen showed the next combatants before more could be said.

Yoroi Akado vs. Naruto Namikaze.

"Alright then Hinata, I'll be back in a jiffy," Naruto said confidently. "Itachi-sensei, get ready to boast about your entire team making it past the preliminaries!"

"Cocky little shit, aren't you?" the veiled genin snarled when Naruto faced him. "Get ready to eat those words brat, because I absolutely will not allow myself to let you beat me!"

"Begin!"

Yoroi immediately rushed the blonde, his hands glowing with the chakra he used to drain his opponents. The instant before he could lay a finger on Naruto however, the young Namikaze had vanished and reappeared behind his foe, Arashikatta at his neck. "I could easily slit your throat right now," the boy said casually to the terrified opponent. "And I could have already if I had chosen."

_"How the hell did the brat move so fast!?" _Yoroi demanded mentally.

"I am calling the match due to a clear victor!" Hayate declared. "The winner is Naruto Namikaze!"

Naruto smirked and started to walk away, sheathing his sword as he went. Yoroi bellowed in rage and charged at him from behind, intent on sucking him dry. He did not take three steps before he was slammed into the ground from above by a pissed off Uchiha. Sasuke pinned the man to the ground with his knees and held his sword at the back of Yoroi's neck. "That was a move only a scumbag would attempt. The match was already over. If you even show signs of thinking of attempting that again, I will cripple you without a second thought, am I clear?"

"Sasuke Uchiha! You should be disqualified from the finals for you less than admirable conduct!" one of the proctors shouted, only to be silenced by a death glare from Minato and Kushina.

"If anyone should be punished for poor conduct, it is Yoroi," Minato growled at the proctor. "Hayate had called the match already, and he attacked Naruto when he thought his opponent's guard was down. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Sasuke's conduct, in fact he should be commended for reacting so fast to a threat to his teammate."

"I second the opinion of Blondie," Zabuza stated as he flared his killing intent full force at both Yoroi and the proctor, scaring them both shitless. His hand was on the handle of Kubikiribocho. "I will be the first to admit that I myself have used such tactics to kill my enemies in the past, but I always had better reasons than foolish pride. To be completely honest _boy_," he directed the killing intent full force to Yoroi now. "You are extremely lucky that your opponent's teammate beat me to the punch, or you would have been fortunate to get away with a trip to the infirmary. You had better watch yourself now, because I would prefer to spare everyone here the sight of me proving why I was called the Demon of the Bloody Mist."

Sasuke let Yoroi up and the latter was immediately escorted from the tower by two ANBU. "There was no need to do that you know," Naruto said to Sasuke. "My guard was not down in the slightest and I could have easily taken him again.

"I know that," Sasuke replied. "Sorry, I was not thinking there. He should have known better than to threaten one of my teammates like that."

They jumped back to the rafters and turned to see the next matchup.

Lee Rock vs. Ino Yamanaka.

"Yosh! I finally get to show everyone my youthfulness!" Lee declared as he cleared the railings to jump into the arena.

"Come on Ino, get up already," Asuma coaxed the still crying girl.

"Why bother? I failed to impress my Sasuke-kun, and now he has abandoned me for billboard brow. Why should I continue trying to become a chunin?" she sobbed.

"You know, if you manage to beat that Lee kid and prove to Sasuke that you are stronger than Sakura, he might just dump her for you," Asuma pleaded in a desperate attempt to motivate her.

"Let me at him!" Ino shouted, having materialized in the arena in the same manner Choji had when Asuma had tempted him with the barbeque. The rest of Team 10 sweat dropped.

"Did I really look that foolish when it was my turn to fight?" Choji asked.

"Do you want a lie or the truth to that?" Shikamaru deadpanned.

"Begin!"

Ino threw her shuriken at Lee, who dodged so fast he practically disappeared. He reappeared right behind her and kicked her in the back so hard, she was thrown into the wall from the opposite side of the arena. She was out cold before she even landed. "That was unyouthfully quick!" Lee declared as he shed anime tears and Hayate called the match.

"Did I look that weak when I fought?" Choji asked.

"Do you want a lie or the truth?" Shikamaru deadpanned again.

_"At least one of my students passed," _Asuma thought as he watched the two final combatants step onto the floor.

Temari and Zaku were staring at each other with intensity when Hayate shouted for the final match to begin.

"Decapitating Airwaves!" Zaku shouted as he blasted at Temari with everything he had from those tubes on his arms determined to finish it quick.

Temari leapt right at the attack and unfurled her fan fully and swung at the approaching gale. To the surprise of Zaku, she caught the full force of the air waves in the fan. "Wind Style: Sickle Weasel Technique!" and she flung the air right back at him, cutting him up severely, and slamming him forcefully into the wall.

"Winner by knockout, Temari!"

"Very well done, all of you!" Minato praised the ten victors as they stood before him. "Now, before we continue with explaining the third exams, I would like to ask you all to take numbers from this box, one at a time."

Once they had all done so, the numbers selected stood as thus:

1: Gaara

2: Lee

3: Hinata

4: Kankuro

5: Kiba

6: Temari

7: Shikamaru

8: Shino

9: Naruto

10: Sasuke

"All right then, now we would now like for Sakura and Tenten to come forward," Minato said, causing most of the people present to show confusion as four more slips of paper were put into the box and it was shaken. "Gai, since Neji is still in the infirmary, we would like you to take a number in his place."

Still confused, all three of them complied.

1: Tenten

2: Sakura

4: Neji

"Alright, so that means Kin Tsuchi will be three," Minato said.

"And here we are," Ibiki said as he turned the clipboard he had been writing on to the direction of the waiting genin. The matchups were as follows: Hinata vs. Lee, with the victor of that match fighting Gaara next, then Kankuro vs. Kiba, for the first bracket. The second bracket would start with Temari vs. Shikamaru and would be followed by Shino vs. Naruto, the victor of that match then fighting Sasuke. On opposite sides of the clipboard were the single matches of Sakura vs. Tenten and Neji vs. Kin.

"Very good, now are there any questions, before I explain further?" Minato asked. "Yes, Shikamaru?"

"Well Lord Yondaime, if this is set up as a tournament, does that mean that there is only going to be one person who is going to be a chunin? And what's the deal with those two extra fights between those who lost?" Shikamaru asked.

"To answer your first question, that is not the case," Minato replied before he went on to explain that the purpose of the battles were to show judges that would be watching the battles one month from now your abilities and they would be judging whether or not you were going to be a chunin or not. It did not matter whether you won or lost your fight, as long as you were able to impress the judges. The advantage to winning was to have additional chances to prove you had what it takes. "As for the additional battles," Minato continued. "When we last needed to do preliminaries for the third exams, we noted that there were several shinobi who had the potential to gain the promotions right then, but did not have the opportunity to try in the actual exam, due to either a bad matchup of abilities, or simply them matched up against superior opponents. In fact many who won their fights were actually weaker than those who lost other fights at times. Which is why this time, we had our eyes open for such people and selected four who still showed some potential, despite getting the short end of the stick initially.

"These extra matches will also serve the purpose of giving the victors of the matches who then need to go on to face another opponent a chance to rest. For example, say Lee won the first match. He would be at least somewhat exhausted no doubt before he fought Gaara. For this reason, once that first match is over, we will then have the extra fight between Sakura and Tenten. Then, whoever wins between Shino and Naruto, we will host the battle between Neji and Kin, before the winner fights Sasuke. Of course, they will all only get the one fight, and there will be a limit of twenty minutes to these exhibition matches, because many lords and other noble figures can only pay to be here to watch the matches for a short time, and will wish to see the main events, especially ones that they bet on."

"So basically, though you get to legally beat the tar out of one another for our amusement and profit," Zabuza chuckled. "We can only host so many battles for so long. No pressure though right?"

"Does that answer your question, Shikamaru?" Minato asked.

Shikamaru nodded before frowning and saying, "Just one more thing. Why did you select that Sound girl? She was beaten rather easily by her opponent."

"Well, to be honest, we simply needed a fourth candidate for this new policy. And she did not lose quite as easily as the other ones that we passed over. She did demonstrate decent skill with senbon, which is a difficult weapon to use effectively, as well as a genjutsu that would have been effective had she targeted the right opponent.

"So, if that is all, I will tell you the full purpose of these exams." With that, Minato explained that the nations used the matches in the exams as a sort of competition to substitute for war, and reminded everyone that their matches would reflect greatly on the image of their nations. "And now, you are all dismissed! I will look forward to seeing you all again in a month!"

…..

"Alright, Sasuke, you are to come with me," Ceilia said to the boy as the genin all filed out of the exam room. "I will finish with that problem of yours, but you will need a few days."

Sasuke nodded and headed to another room in the tower with Ceilia, telling Sakura to meet up with him for their first date in five days. Sakura meanwhile was absolutely jubilant. "I cannot believe that I not only getting to date Sasuke, but I still have a shot at making chunin!" she said with joy.

"Just make sure you focus on your training Sakura," Kurenai replied. "You may have been given another shot, but it is going to be a long one, so you will have to make sure to work extra hard if you want that promotion. That goes for you two as well, even if you have a better chance," she continued to Kiba and Shino.

"Indeed, Namikaze-san will not be an easy opponent to defeat, if I can at all," Shino commented, remembering how easily the blonde had beaten his enemy. Shino had only been barely able to perceive the speed he had demonstrated, and knew that Naruto knew many techniques, and had no doubt that he was the one who had taught Hinata his father's Rasengan. "But maybe I can at least hold my own long enough to have a hope of being chosen."

"Eh, that puppet guy is going to be a piece of cake," Kiba stated. "I bet he has no ability to fight in close quarters, and once me and Akamaru close in on him… we could still work on a few moves to bag him though, he probably has skills to keep his distance so he can let that puppet do his dirty work…"

"Good to see you thinking for once Kiba," Sakura told him. "Here I thought it would be painful for you to do so."

"Nah, it hurts more when I'm stupid, you make sure of that. I just hope I can figure out a way past that Gaara's sand if I am lucky enough to face him."

…..

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said to Felix and Naruto after he had his memory back. Before he could leave the tower and go cloud watching, the two had somehow managed to get him from his team long enough to ambush him and use the Pulse Imprint Jutsu on him. "At least we know what's coming. Don't worry, I won' try to change anything you don't want me to. Too troublesome to do that and figure out the consequences. Just one exception. Asuma-sensei lives this time…" He glared at them as he said this, leaving no room for argument in his gaze.

"You don't have to worry about that, I plan on taking care of Hidan myself," Felix said. "All the other Akatsuki members had to trade blows with Naruto at some point, even Sasori, because the baka threw a shuriken at him, to no effect I might add, other than limiting my options further. I am not allowed to fight his fights you see, and if I try to, the seal we used to come back will kill me instantly and we revert to the point we turned back from in the first place, all our hard work undone."

"Troublesome. And even if I remembered after that, it wouldn't do me much good. I was kinda on the ground with a large piece of rock embedded in my chest at that point, shrapnel from a Bijuu Bomb, before time was reversed." He shivered at the memory and clutched at his chest. "I was not dead yet, but I had minutes at most."

"Well I can at least wail on Hidan a little. Since Naruto never even saw him, it's open season on his immortal ass."

Both boys shivered at the thought. Even if Hidan could not die, he would no doubt wish he could after Felix was through with him.

….

"I am sorry you don't have the chance to fight Neji, Lee-san," Hinata was telling the spandex wearing boy as his team left the tower, Neji having finally recovered enough to walk.

"I cannot hold a grudge over it Hinata," he replied. "That was a most youthful fight indeed, and at least I know that I get a chance to fight you in his place. That should suffice to show myself how far I have come until he and I can have our next bout."

….

"Baki-sensei, have you noticed that Gaara has been odd lately?" Kankuro asked the man when they were back at the hotel they were staying in for the duration of the exams.

"Yes, he has been strange since recently," Baki replied thoughtfully. "I usually have to try very hard to be sure that he keeps in line and does not jeopardize the mission with his… tendencies to kill without a thought for consequences. But now… he did not even try to kill that boy in the preliminaries, or argue with the proctor when he called the match."

"And that is not all Sensei," Temari said. "During the second exams, he had a team at his mercy, but he let them go after they gave us their scroll, and then agreed to work with another team to get to the tower! I have never known him to act like this."

"This is confusing. I will try to figure out what has happened, so keep an eye on the boy for a while, and try not to get yourselves killed by him."

With that Baki left and Kankuro turned to Temari and asked, "Hey, I was thinking…"

"Oh yeah, how did it feel?" Temari asked. "Did it hurt your first time?"

"Ha ha. But seriously, maybe we should just ask Gaara what has been going on to change him like that."

"Are you out of your mind!? He would kill us for prying into his business!"

"I thought one of the strange things we were trying to figure out was his seeming newfound distaste for what he lived for until recently."

"But he has been making the threat to us, even if not as many times, so how do you know he won't make good on them?"

"Well, the last time he did, in the Forest of Death, after he caught us talking about it and got us panicking with the cork's vibration, I could have sworn I saw a glint of… mischief in his eyes, almost as if his recent threats were nothing more than him having fun with us or something along those lines…"

"Oh, and you want to risk our lives over this little hunch? You are nuts I say!"

"Are you in or out?"

"Fine, we can try asking him, but don't be surprised if I leave you behind when I run."

So they cautiously opened the door to Gaara's room and saw a blood chilling sight. There was Gaara, laying on the bed sleeping. And those who knew what that usually meant did not like what that meant.

"Uh, sis," Kankuro said as he backed slowly away from the door.

"Just… run, and try to find Baki-sensei."

And with that, they panicked and fled, expecting a possessed Gaara behind them, out for their blood, causing the boy to wake up in irritation. Honestly, scaring them like that was as funny as hell, but he spent his whole life unable to get a decent amount of sleep so was it really too much to ask for them to let him catch up on it, now that he could?

….

"You alright?" A concerned Sasuke asked a seemingly nauseous Ceilia. She had just taken a close look at his cursed seal with her third eye and had recoiled after a minute, panting.

"Let's just say, that even though I am a pacifist by nature and usually hate causing pain, I am actually going to _enjoy _tearing that foul piece of that snake's mind to pieces," Ceilia said as she looked at the seal with disgust before closing her extra eye and replacing her headband. "Of course, the process will be a little painful to you as well and will take a few days, but it shouldn't be nearly as bad as getting the seal in the first place. I think," she joked with the last part, scaring Sasuke a little as he instinctively covered his neck with a hand. "At any rate, we are going to need a second session a week after we are done with this one, after the new seal without the evil mind in it sets in. Once the second session is done, you will be able to access and repress the seal's power at will with luck, and even use the hidden Second State that is currently locked, though I recommend you let me make a few modifications to the appearance of that as well."

"Appearance?" Sasuke asked.

"You know how the seal spreads across your body, like it initially did when you woke up?" Sasuke nodded. "When the Second State is released, it completely envelops your body and makes you seem a little more demon like, because it can warp your body a little, or a lot, depending on the one who has the seal. I did see what you would look like in your Second State, and let's just say that if Naruto ever saw you like that, you would have to join Kiba's and that Kankuro's club of people he will never stop calling gay." Sasuke sweat dropped at the thought. "I can probably draw an image up for you, my art skills are not too shabby, so you can make some of your own specifications, but first, we remove the part of the seal that will twist your mind. The chakra of the seal will still have a dark, cold shade but it will be usable as a force for good when I am through." She took Sasuke's hand and drew a knife across the palm, making him wince.

"Sorry," she said as she drew some designs around the curse seal with the blood. "Your own blood is needed for the first part of this. Now let's get started."

…..

"Oi, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto shouted to Jiraiya, Felix in tow.

"Will ya quit calling me that?!" the pervert demanded.

"I will when you stop being a pervert," Naruto replied.

"Jiraiya, have some of your friends look for Tsunade for us," Felix interrupted before the argument could escalate. "We are going to bring her back to Konoha before the invasion. Her fighting abilities and healing prowess will help us defeat the enemy and save us some casualties."

"And how do you plan to convince her to come back?" Jiraiya asked. "Believe me, I have been trying for years, every time I saw her but…"

"Naruto convinced her last time, so if we bring her memories back, she should come around without a fuss."

"Great, how come only her memories get restored and not mine?"

"Because we need to keep you from doing something in particular that even Naruto would call stupid."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted.

"It's the truth, live with it."

"Fine," sighed the Toad Sannin. "If my most recent sources were accurate, she should be in the outskirts of the village."

….

It was nearly a week later when Sasuke and Sakura could be seen walking through the village, trying to find a decent place to eat, other than Ichiraku's, he had enough of that place with Naruto, though the ramen was good. Sakura had hearts in her eyes and Sasuke thought to himself, _"I guess that she is still a fan girl at heart at times, though she has gotten better at having her own opinion about things rather than just liking everything I do." _The girl had also shown some concern for Sasuke and the problem he had to see Ceilia about.

Sasuke rubbed his still slightly throbbing neck absently. The woman had been right about the process being unpleasant, but it was nothing to the pain of when he had gotten the seal. Near the end, he could have almost sworn he heard Orochimau's voice screaming in agony in his mind. Stangely, Ceilia had a smug look on her face at that same point in time. Now it would be a week before the seal had set enough to safely finish modifying.

After he had told Sakura that the problem was nothing important, they ran into three civilians. "Sasuke Uchiha, may we have a moment of your time?" the one in the lead asked. "Away from your girlfriend's ears?"

"Fine," Sasuke said with a frown. "Sorry Sakura but it will probably mean less trouble down the line if I hear what they have to say now, rather than refuse and have them hound me later," he told her though he used a silent gesture to try to tell her to listen in on the conversation. She nodded in understanding.

Sasuke followed them into an alley, Sakura discreetly following along. "We are aware that there is a good chance of you facing the Namikaze boy in the exams," one of the civilians stated. "If that is the case, we could make it worth your while to-"

"If this is an attempt to bribe me into throwing the match so you can win a bet, I refuse," Sasuke said. "So unless you have something important to tell me…"

"Oh no, we don't want you to lose," the leader replied. "There is something else we could pay you to do for us in the match…" The moment the man finished making his proposal, Sasuke's face contorted in rage.

"You had better be joking," he snarled. "Because if you are not, I will do more than kill you three quarters of the way!"

Sakura came out of hiding then, cracking her knuckles with a death glare at the civilians, who were paralyzed by the killing intent that the two shinobi directed at them.

…..

"Dang, it was bad enough trying to find her the first time around, now I got to do it again!" Naruto complained.

"Oh, stop whining Gaki, she should be around here somewhere," Felix said as he looked for another likely pub.

"That's what you said in the last two small towns we checked."

….

Baki frowned at the new piece of information. Ever since the preliminaries had ended, he had been trying to find the cause of Gaara's drastic change in behavior. In his free time that was. He had already had that meeting with Kabuto with no hitches (the spy's cover had not been blown yet, so Minato did not have Hayate tail him this time), but he did still have a few pieces of work that needed to be done, and tomorrow he would return to Suna to give the finalized invasion plans to the Kazekage. But he was able to pick up several things despite this.

Kankuro and Temari had already told him that Gaara had met a certain boy that was the son of the Yondaime Hokage just before his behavior had changed. Ever since, Baki had been trying to dig up as much as he could about Naruto, though he was careful not to pry too much. He had noticed the looks that some of the villagers gave the boy, despite his relation to Minato, looks that seemed strangely familiar. But why did they look at him like that?

He had tried to subtly get a few answers though he avoided asking direct questions, but the villagers were tight lipped about it until he heard one mutter something about a demon brat when Naruto had been mentioned by someone trying to figure out who to bet on in the exams. Those were the same words so associated with Gaara. It was then Baki put together the pieces on Naruto's general age and a certain incident about that many years ago. If his guess was correct, it explained why the two held interest for each other, though it still did not entirely explain how Gaaara's behavior had changed in such a short time, unless... Baki shook his head in irritation. This was definitely a complicated business, and he was not sure how to handle it. If Gaara had actually befriended the boy… this could be a problem for the invasion.

….

"Okay you two, do you mind telling me exactly _why _you put those three civilians in the hospital in a shape that was almost as bad as Jiraiya's that time Tsunade caught him peeping on her?" Minato asked Sasuke and Sakura, who were standing in front of him not looking the least bit apologetic.

"Hokage-sama, those three approached me this afternoon," Sasuke started. "They wanted to bribe me to do them a favor in the exams."

"So they asked you to throw a match so they could make money off of a bet, all you had to do was say no to them, not beat them bloody!"

"That's not what they wanted from Sasuke-kun, Lord Yondaime," Sakura jumped in.

"What they asked me for was to kill Naruto for them and make it look like an accident," Sasuke growled, angry at the memory. He knew why the villagers hated Naruto, but that did not excuse what they had wanted from him, not even a little. His blood boiled at the thought that there were many who wanted Naruto dead for something he had no fault in.

"I see," Minato said, his demeanor getting calmer, though colder at the idea of what had occurred. "On second thought, you were justified in losing your temper today, so I will not punish you this time. The council wanted me to pull you from the exams for that stunt, but in light of what you had told me, I think those three will be recovering only to have a session with Ibiki, or better yet, Anko. If the council complains, tough. Just don't go around beating these people up Sasuke, Sakura. As much as I detest them, that is not the way to handle it. If any more people approach you to ask the same favor, report it immediately from now on, don't take matters into your own hands. Don't forget, a lot of people still distrust your clan Sasuke, and the members of the council in that category have been taking any chance they could to keep you from advancing your shinobi career. Please do not give them any more reasons, it will make things more difficult for me and for you. Losing your temper like that will only escalate matters if it keeps happening."

Sasuke grudgingly nodded. "Alright, you two are dismissed." Once they were out of his office Minato sighed and rubbed his temples, _"This is getting ridiculous. I still have to deal with these stupid villagers who can't tell the difference between a scroll and a kunai that is sealed in it. They have gotten more brazen if they attempted something like this. I am actually tempted to set Kushina loose on those three, a fate I would not usually wish on my worst enemy." _Minato considered the possibility of telling her about the incident and letting her rage at the threat to their son loose on them. _"Hopefully the day will come when Naruto makes them see him for who he is, before they try something I absolutely cannot forgive."_

**A/N: Okay, so the poll has officially closed! A lot later in the story, Jiraiya, Felix and Itachi will fight Raizen Genshukuayatsuri in a three on one battle. I asked this far ahead of time so I could work on the buildup a little. **

**I have also opened another poll and it is now on my profile. It is a question of the next story I intend to start in a couple weeks, which will be centered on the story of the game Dissidia: Final Fantasy, both the original and prequel. It will also have anime characters added to the mix, and I don't think I need to tell you guys that Naruto will be one of the universes I will be crossing over. **

**I would also like to ask Anon to get an account for fanfiction, because I value his reviews and would like to PM him about them.**

**So please read and review! I will hold the next chapter until I have popped the proverbial 100 cherry, and if you see that I have already done so before I post the next chapter, please review anyway! I need the motivation!**


	17. Chapter 16: Final Preparations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: First things first, I owe all of you an apology. I spent so much time trying to build up my reputation for updating on a daily basis, only reneging on it if I do not get enough reviews. I am aware that I got my quota the day I have asked for it, but did not give you the chapter I owed two days ago. **

**The reason for this is because I use public library computers to do this story, and the library was closed for the past two days because of Labor Day. I respect the holiday, but I was not happy about it messing with my day to day business, and on two days too! I could understand on the day itself, but the day before had me as ticked as Kushina when someone calls her fat and/or old.**

**So once, again, I apologize for my tardiness, and I owe you all two days where I post two chapters within the next week or two, so I can rebuild my reputation. **

**The time of the invasion is rapidly approaching, and all the stops are being pulled to make sure Konoha comes out better than last time! Tsunade finally makes her appearance. And what will Sand do upon hearing about Gaara's new personality?**

**Chapter 16: Final Preparations**

"Damn it!" Tsunade shouted as the annoying blonde threw down _another _hand that beat hers. He had a straight flush, and she had actually gotten a four of a kind, for Kami's sake! She may have been known as the Legendary Sucker, but losing to a kid repeatedly, when she was actually getting good hands, it was driving her nuts!

"Looks like I have enough money for a lot of ramen," Naruto cackled. He and Felix had finally found the Slug Sannin, and Naruto could not resist the temptation to squeeze some cash out of her before she had her memories returned to her. "Got enough for one last hand?"

"Oooooh I do, brat, and I am winning all that money back!" she declared and the hands were dealt. She took one look at her hand and smirked. _"No way, I have a four through eight of hearts, now I have a straight flush! No way I am losing this time, he would need a freaking royal flush, and there is no way the brat is __**that **__lucky! _**(A/N: Sorry Tsunade, but you really seem to have ticked the gods of luck off at some point, so you need to be taught a lesson) **"I will call and raise."

"Call."

"I need no new cards," Tsunade smirked. Usually that meant a person would either see a bluff or not take chances.

"Eh, me neither."

"Alright, I'm all in."

"Call."

"Read em and weep!" Tsunade laughed as she tossed her hand down .

"Sure, I'll weep… with joy!" Naruto said as he slapped down a royal flush of diamonds.

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Ha ha ha, I win again!" Naruto cackled as he counted his winnings.

"You think you are so hot, you little runt? You are only lucky, I bet if I actually fought you, you would not last so much as two seconds!"

"Oh? Care to make a wager on that?"

"I'm listening."

"I'll bet that if we were to take this outside, I could tap you with my sword, leaving it sheathed until we started, before you could lay so much as a finger on me. If you win, I give you all the money I won today, not just from you, but from those other four," he pointed in the direction of the guys he and the Sannin had gambled with earlier, all now bankrupt and weeping anime tears over having met the Legendary Sucker's polar opposite. "I win, you go on a date alone with my companion." This was the plan Naruto and Felix had agreed to. It was the best shot at separating Tsunade from Shizune to avoid questions after the Sannin's memory was back. It would also hopefully give Felix all the chances he needed to use the Pulse Imprint Jutsu without Tsunade resisting, and Felix would not be able to do it by force without catching her so off guard she would not have the chance to hit him. As per the time travel rules, Felix would not be able to get into a fight with the former kage, because Naruto had tried to fight her in the past when he and the pervert tried to retrieve her. Felix had tried to refuse when Naruto suggested it, saying that though she did not look it, she was older than him by about two decades, and besides, he was married. He eventually agreed to it, but on the promise of death for the blonde if he ever met his wife and told her of the incident.

"Done deal, Gaki," Tsunade said. The chance of winning all that dough was all too tempting and she was confident that she would win. There was no way a little kid could beat her in such a contest. They stepped out onto the street and faced off. "So, you think you can draw your sword and tap me before I touch you huh? Well I hate to disappoint you, but I will be laying a finger on you before that happens. In fact, I will use just one finger to teach you a lesson."

"Bring it." Naruto said, his hand hovering near the hilt of Arashikatta, not touching it until the match started. The moment Tsunade charged, Naruto grabbed the hilt and pulled the blade swiftly out. The instant before Tsunade's finger touched Naruto's forehead protector, Arashikatta tapped he shoulder.

She was shocked to say the least. "What? But how did you draw it so fast? Oh I see, the blade is smaller than the sheath." She cursed her luck for having fallen prey to such a simple trick.

"A bet's a bet," Naruto grinned.

"Fine," she sighed. At least this Felix was attractive and not once had he looked at her cleavage like most idiot males. He also was quite polite to her for the few times they spoke before the bet and had a way with words. When she had said that she had thought chivalry was dead, he had replied by saying he had yet to see the body.

…..

"Why the hell did those jerks want you to kill Naruto anyway?" Sakura was asking Sasuke over their rice dish meal. "Do you think it is because they have a grudge against the Yondaime or something?"

"I don't think that is it," Sasuke said solemnly. He knew why of course.

"Sasuke, do you know something?" Sakura asked.

"I actually do, but it is not for me to say," Sasuke sighed. "You will have to ask Naruto about that if you wish to know."

Sakura looked as though she wanted to argue but she saw the look in Sasuke's eyes and said, "Alright, I won't press you, or him, for answers. If he wants me to know, he will tell me himself, I suppose. Let's just not allow Ino to get wind of this. If she does, she will not rest until she finds the secret out and yells it out to everyone else in Konoha.

Sasuke sweat dropped at the thought of the blonde girl hounding him and Naruto for the gossip fuel and knew that Sakura was right, they could not allow so much as a hint of this to reach the fan girl's ears. "Yeah, that would be bad. Oh, and Sakura… thanks for respecting his privacy."

"I'm no Ino. I can keep my nose out of places it does not belong in, is they places are serious enough, and I can tell this is."

….

Shizune was very surprised when Tsunade came back from her "date" with Felix. The first thing the Slug Sannin had said was that it was time for her to stop moping about things she could not change and that they were going back to Konoha. Shizune was curious as to whether she actually had a crush on Felix, but Tsunade said that the date was merely a means for Felix to have a chance to talk some sense into her, though she initially did not want to hear it. So now, Shizune was busy packing her belongings, and helping with Tsunade's. She was tempted to "accidentally" leave behind the Sannin's stash of booze, but even Shizune would not escape her mistress's wrath if she did not get her drinks.

Even if the medic nin was suicidal, she would still choose a less painful way to go.

…..

"You know, I still have not ruled out the possibility of this being an elaborate genjutsu," Tsunade told Felix and Naruto. They were on the road at this point, and Shizune had fallen somewhat far behind, having to carry Tsunade's bags for her, muttering something about how a lady with chakra enhanced strength should be able to carry her own things.

"You're just saying that because you want to sound tough, Baa-chan," Naruto snorted.

"I don't suppose that you could QUIT CALLING ME THAT, YOU BRAT!?"

"Please, I call Kakashi a pervert and a Cyclops, Jiraiya Ero-Sennin, Zabuza a nil-brow and even old Kurama fuzzbut **(OI!)**. Do you really think you get a break?" Naruto chuckled. In addition to giving Tsunade her memories back, Naruto had told her about his breaking the mile thick ice between him and the Kyuubi, which she had some trouble believing, but accepted for now.

Tsunade sighed. "Guess some things don't change, even with time travel. One question. How come you don't have a name for that Felix yet?"

"He is a little harder than most people. He has yet to give me something that really bothers him. I tried things like weed-head, but no dice."

"Nicknames aside, I suppose we need to prep for that snake traitor's invasion. And once we are done with that…" she donned a sad and contemplative expression. "I think I need to sort out my feelings for Jiraiya this time before he does something stupid and get himself killed again. It took his death last time for me to realize that they were there."

Naruto's eyes turned red as he turned control over to Kurama. **"Yes, you humans do have that problem a lot. You live such short lives, you would think that you would go for things you want, but you spend too much of that time you already have so little of trying to figure out or deny yourself what you want. Honestly, you are a prime example of that stupidity." **Then he retreated back into Naruto's mindscape laughing, while Tsunade was glaring at a rapidly paling Naruto. For some odd reason, Felix had gone back to help Shizune with the bags after taking one look at the Sannin's face.

"Er, you do realize that I was not the one who said that, I had no idea he was going to say it, and that beating me up won't hurt him in the slightest, right?" Naruto asked Tsunade under her killing intent.

"Oh, I know," Tsunade replied, cracking her knuckles. "However, I am still ticked and need to take it out on someone, and the words did come from your mouth. Tough luck that you cannot keep your tenant's mouth shut."

_"I really hate you right now, Kurama," _Naruto thought, weeping anime tears as Tsunade's fists descended on him.

**"I wouldn't have it any other way, Kit," **Kurama chuckled, his words drowned out by his jailor's screaming.

….

"Are you prepared, Lady Hinata?" Neji asked his cousin as they went into the Gentle Fist stance. Until the day of the exams, the two were training in repeated spars to try to prepare Hinata for her match with Lee. Neji was striving to teach Hinata all he could that would help her win, and she was doing all she could to learn from her cousin. So far, she almost had the Kaiten down. Of course, she also used her Shadow Clones to train while they were at it. She was working on a new jutsu in secret, one that would hopefully give her an edge if she could complete it. Trying to tamper with the Rasengan's form however, was an extremely difficult endeavor, and Naruto would not tell her how to add an element yet, not until they found a way for her to throw it or protect her arm from the backlash of the attack. So she was trying something different.

This new technique she was trying to create would not require an element added to the Rasengan, but exceptional control over the chakra she emitted from her tenketsu. Learning the Kaiten was an essential step, and she was also trying to learn the Rasengan one-handed. "I am ready, big brother," she said. Neji wasted no time in rushing his cousin, who immediately forced the chakra out of all her tenketsu and rotated, throwing her defensive shield out. Neji impacted and was flung back, though he recovered in midair and landed on his feet.

"Not quite enough power," he said, dusting himself. "Once more!" He ran at his cousin again, and though she was panting she complied. This time the burst was a little larger, and Neji ended up sitting on his butt upon landing. "Better, now we just need to work on maintaining it for a slightly longer period of time."

Hinata nodded as she prepared for a few more attempts.

….

"Okay then, here's what you will look like after I make the modifications to the Second State," Ceilia said as she showed Sasuke her artist's rendering of his and her collaborative efforts to make his Second State look a little better. He looked it over and nodded.

"I still would prefer my own normal appearance any day, but at least I won't have to worry too much about Naruto bursting into laughter when he sees me like that," he said with a shudder at what Naruto's reaction would be if he saw the old one. "By the way, you are a decent artist."

"It's the Tamashi Kensaku Me. It helps with one's attention to detail. Now, once I finish with the modifications, you should be able to activate and deactivate at will both stages of the curse mark. The negative side effects at this point should be virtually nonexistent, however it could shorten your life by a marginal amount every time you use it, though if you only use it as you need it, you probably won't even lose a week, tops. Maybe a month or two at most even if you are liberal with its use. I am just that good."

"Right, let's get started then," Sasuke sat down and cut his hand to give Ceilia the blood she requested to make her modifications.

"One last thing," she said as she started drawing the designs around the curse mark with his blood again. "You should not use the seal or your Mangekyo Sharingan during the exams. The second one is obvious why, though I undid the seal on your eyes for you. The reason we need you to hold off on the seals use is to keep an enemy in a false sense of security."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that some shit will be hitting the fan on the day of the exams, and it would not do to tip our enemies off that you have a curse seal you can use with almost absolute impunity. Don't worry, when you and Naruto fight, he will be holding off on using Sage Mode and Kurama's chakra, just to keep things relatively fair. You both should still have enough up your sleeves to make chunin, just make sure you save some chakra for when things go down."

"Does this have to do with Orochimaru, the event on the day of the exams?"

"Yes, though I cannot go into details. Now, time to finish the seal work."

….

"I was not expecting to see you again anytime soon, Tsunade," Minato chuckled when the Sannin stood in front of his desk, Naruto, Felix and Shizune behind her.

"I wasn't expecting to come back anytime soon Minato," Tsunade chuckled. "Just a word of advice, you might want to warn that pervert you call your sensei that I am back in town before I catch him in his research again. If I do catch him at it first time I see him in a while, he will be begging for a repeat of that time I almost killed him rather than what I intend to do then."

"Duly noted," Minato said with a sweat drop. "So can I assume that you intend to resume your duties as a medic of Konoha?"

"Yes I do."

"Good. So can I ask you to take a look at the condition of one of my jonin? He is proctoring the exams, and we have not been able to effectively treat that terminal illness that keeps him coughing all the time."

"I will see what I can do."

…

"I see…" the Kazekage said thoughtfully after Baki had delivered his report. "What you have told me is quite intriguing. What to do about it… keep a close eye and Gaara and the jinchuriki you believe he has befriended. If Gaara has made a friend that helped him control Shukaku, it could be a good thing in some ways, but if it makes him hesitate in his role in the invasion… we need to make sure that Gaara is committed to his mission and will not falter for the sake of the Namikaze. Killing the boy is out of the question, it has too many risks involved."

"I understand Lord Kazekage," Baki replied with his head bowed. "I will make sure that Gaara plays his part, regardless of any one he may have befriended."

"Good. You are dismissed."

…..

"Sasuke, I heard what happened between you and those three civilians," Mikoto said as her younger son sat at the dinner table, Itachi leaning against the wall and giving Sasuke a stern look.

"I thought that Namikaze-sama was going to keep a lid on that," Sasuke said, surprised.

"He totally sucks at lying to Kushina," Mikoto said. "When she heard that three civilians had been hospitalized, she and I went for the gossip material… What? We are girls after all. When Minato tried to hide it from her, she saw it immediately and… persuaded him to tell her everything. I have never seen her so mad in my life to be honest, not even when she found out about seven years ago that Jiraiya used her and Minato's honeymoon as… inspiration for a scene in his perverted series, and she beat him worse than Tsunade did that time as a result. But once she found out those civilians tried to have you kill her son, she went on a wild search for her sword, which Minato and Naruto had hidden from her for some reason…

"But I digress. What the hell were you thinking, attacking those civilians like that!? And dragging your girlfriend into it as well!?"

"First of all mom, Sakura is not my girlfriend, at least not yet, second of all, I would have had to fight to stop her from helping me, I did not drag her into it, and lastly, I was thinking probably similar thoughts to Naruto's mom's, when she was prepared to murder someone who threatened the life of her son and my friend."

"And have you considered Naruto's feelings on this?" Itachi interjected.

"Of course I have, I attacked them in the first place because of the insults they had thrown at him, as well as the rocks whenever his parents were not looking, and on top of that they wanted to kill him!"

"That is not what I meant. Do you truly think Naruto would have wanted you to act like that? Attacking the villagers he cares for, despite what they think of him?"

"I-"

"Have you heard of Obito Uchiha?"

"Of course I have, but what does that have to with-"

"He once said something to a friend of mine, Kakashi Hatake, something the man now tries to live by. That those who break the rules are scum, but those who fail to care for their comrades are lower than scum."

"Well, if that is the case, why would what I did be considered wrong?"

"Many would think that it wasn't, but Kakashi has come to another personal conclusion, though he does not say it very often. That those who fail to respect the wishes of their comrades are as low as it gets."

Sasuke paused at this, the implications of what his brother had said.

"I respect the fact that you tried to avenge a wrong, but sometimes you have to honor the wishes of those who do not wish to be avenged Sasuke, or you will ultimately lose sight of who you are, and who the people you want to avenge are, " Itachi finished as he left the room.

Sasuke just sat there, thinking heavily on the words his brother had told him.

…..

"I am still not certain that restoring my memories without the consent of Naruto and the others in on this was wise, Itachi," Kakashi said to the Uchiha later that day. "I mean, I am glad to have an idea of what is going to happen but… can you really trust me with the knowledge that Obito is alive and our enemy?"

"I actually did not know that detail until I viewed your memories," Itachi replied. "You know as well as I do why I went behind their backs on this. I wanted more answers as to how Sasuke fell down his dark path in the other timeline. You do know that someone tried to forcibly restore his memories. I wanted to try to learn what I could about how he had fallen into the darkness, so I could paint his canvas with colors that would help to counter anything dark his old memories might have brought back up. To do that, I had to view the memories of someone who had some insight, but I clearly had to restore them for you first. I had no idea about Obito until then, otherwise, I might have hesitated before I restored them for you. So what do you intend to do about it, now that you know?"

"I am not sure… a part of me refuses to believe that the kid he used to be is completely gone."

"You are going to have to bury that part of yourself then. Regardless of who he is or isn't inside, it is his actions that must be what we use to judge him with. He has, and is going to threaten the world. Even if he changes, his past crimes simply cannot be ignored, even if his future ones have been erased for the time being. To prevent things from getting to the point of no return again, we need to do what must be done."

"…I know. It will be difficult, but I will harden my heart if the time comes."

"I will trust you to do that. And I hope that we can keep this between us. I do not want to make Felix and Naruto angry with me yet on this."

"You have my word on that."

**A/N: Okay, I have finally posted the next chapter, and I am once again sorry about the delay, even if the events were beyond my control. I should have at least paid more attention to the days the library would be closed and given fair warning of the delay. Sorry it was a little short.**

**The exams begin next chapter, they should be quite entertaining!**

**I would also like to once again ask people to go to my profile and vote for the aspect of my next story. I have only had three votes so far, and would like at least ten before I start it. And, no, I will not slow down this story for the sake of the other. This one will still be updated daily when I can until it is done, and the other one will take a back seat, probably updated every three days, which is still a good rate from what I can tell. And for you Naruto fans, yes, the story will include him, it is a crossover after all.**

**So read this story, vote for the other, and review!**


	18. Chapter 17: Failures no More!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: 101 favorites! Yes! I hit triple digits in both favorites and reviews! *sniff* Anyways…**

**The final exam has begun! Who will triumph in their matches? The first fight is Hinata vs. Lee!**

**Chapter 17: Failures no More! The Exam's First Match!**

Uuugh… where am I?" the Yondaime Kazekage groaned as he painfully managed to bring himself to a sitting position, his muscles extremely stiff. The last thing he remembered was beginning the journey to Konoha for the exams and the invasions when his ally, Orochimaru had ambushed him and his two guards. They had not suspected that they would be attacked, otherwise they would have managed to put up a fight, but they had been caught completely off their guard and easily beaten. But that should mean that the Kazekage should be dead… shouldn't it? So why was he still alive?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone panting heavily finally penetrating the haze of his mind. He turned to see two men, one rather small and the other very large, and the smaller one was the one who was panting. He was also perspiring heavily and looked downright exhausted.

"Who are you two?" the Kazekage managed to moan as he tried to get up, but his body was too stiff for that, and he felt rather weak as well.

"I would not move too much if I were you," the large man said. "You have just recently been killed after all, and some rigor mortis had already started to set in before Xackary was able to tend to you."

"I… see. What of my men?"

"Sorry…" the one called Xackary wheezed. "The Shikkokyo Revival Jutsu completely drains the user to the point where they can barely even move on their own, and it can only be used once for this reason before a full recovery has been made. If I tried to revive one of your men, it would kill me and there is no guarantee that it would work effectively."

"Wait… I will ask again, who are you two? How did you revive me, what were you doing here in the first place, and what is going on as a whole!?"

"It is clear that there is much to discuss. Borace, you need to carry us to Suna. I will explain on the way, and what needs to happen, if you want to make that snake pay for his treachery. He will arrive at Konoha in a couple of days posing as you, so that gives you time to send messages to your commanders of the invasion."

….

The day of the exams had finally arrived. Naruto had woken that morning to Akari using the wall walking exercise to get onto the ceiling right above him before letting herself drop, right herself in midair and land with both feet slamming into her older brother's sack, shouting, "Wakey wakey, big brother!"

Needless to say, Naruto was instantly wide awake, and not happy about it. "Akari, you little brat…" he groaned while curled up and clutching his family jewels. "The final exams do not start for several hours, and there was no call to wake me like that..."

This only earned a cackle from his little five year old sister. "Maybe not, but where is the fun in only doing things that there is call for in life? It's not like you are one to talk, with all the pranks you pull."

"Well yeah, but those only liven things up a little, it's not like I actually cause mortal agony to a person… not often anyway…"

Akari just laughed her butt off as Naruto got up, somewhat bowlegged.

…..

"Welcome everyone, to the final part of the chunin exams!" Hayate shouted as the crowd shouted in approval in the stands. Naruto and all other genin who had managed to advance to the third round stood before him in the center of the arena. Hayate's voice was noticeably louder now, thanks to his treatment in Tsunade's beyond expert medical care. He really owed her quite a bit for that.

"Good to see you, Lord Kazekage," Minato said without so much as a hint of anything that might give away what he knew in his tone.

"Why thank you, Hokage-sama," the disguised Sannin replied as he took a seat next to Minato. "It has been a delightful trip to see these exams, I was looking forward to them the whole way."

"Well, nice to see you young ones ready to enjoy yourselves!" Onoki said as he stepped into the kage's box, followed by his escorts, Akatsuchi and the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, Kurotsuhci. "I for one, am eager myself for these exams to get underway. After all, it is not every day you get to see four children of kages participate in these exams."

"That is true, Tsuchikage," Minato laughed with Kushina and the ANBU captain with the dog mask behind him chuckling as well. "We even have another kage with arrangements to come. We need to have a political meeting anyway because we recently took in a high level missing nin from her country, and she is using the excuse to come to watch the exams… speak of the devil, here she is now!"

Indeed, as he spoke, Mei and her two guards, Ao one of them entered the box. "Greetings, Minato-sama," she said with a smile. "I must thank you for allowing us to come for the event."

"It was no problem at all," Minato said with a nervous laugh. Even though he had wanted to deny the Mizukage's request to attend the exams due to the invasion, he knew that to do so would look suspicious to the traitorous Orochimaru and potentially warn him that the invasion was known to the Hokage.

Meanwhile, Hayate had just finished explaining the rules of the final exam and asked all but Lee and Hinata to go up to the fighter's watching area. Neji hesitated for a moment before turning to the two combatants. "Lee-san, Hinata-sama," he said to his cousin and his teammate as the rest of the exam participants left the arena. Both of them looked at him questioningly. "Once, I called you both failures, and believed that fate would only allow you to go so far on your chosen paths. However, when Hinata defeated me a month ago,me, a so called genius, I realized that fate is not some omnipotent deity that makes all the choices for us, on what roads we are allowed to take in our lives. I know now that even if we get a short hand dealt to us at birth, it is our own choices on how we play that hand that will take us all down the roads we walk. How we are able to play those hands will have the final say on how far we go.

"Both of you now… you have the ability and the will to go far. When you two fight, I want to see just how far!" With that, Neji jumped to the fighter's spectator area. Hinata and Lee turned to face each other.

"If the two of you are now ready…" Hayate said with a pause and they both nodded in confirmation. "Begin!"

Lee wasted no time in rushing Hinata and launching a kick at her head. She blocked the blow with her arm and quickly sidestepped a punch before launching a palm strike that nicked Lee's shoulder. He attempted to retaliate with a flurry of punches, but Hinata dodged the first few shots, and finally ducked and used a sweeping kick that connected with both of Lee's legs. He was able to flip backwards and recover his footing but in doing so he gave Hinata an opening to rush forward and knock away his blocking arms with one arm and slam the palm of her other hand right into the spandex wearing genin's chest.

He was knocked back and he paused to look at Hinata in confusion. "Hinata-san," he said. "That blow… it was not laced with chakra. Why? You could have ended the fight with that. And you are not using your Byakugan either. Are you really so unyouthful as to hold back against me?"

"You should talk," Hinata replied as she entered her Gentle Fist stance again. "I know about those weights you wear Lee. Until you remove them, I cannot go all out against you."

Lee's eyes widened. "But, Hinata-san… Gai-sensei told me only to remove them when I or someone close to me is in danger!"

"Lee! Go ahead and fight with everything you have!" Might Gai shouted to his apprentice from the railings.

Lee looked up at his teacher in surprise. "But Gai-sensei-"

"It is fine! I will allow it this once!"

"You heard him Lee," Hinata said. "This fight is going to be too important to us for either of us to hold back. And not just us, but for those who know that we are truly strong. It is time for us to show them all, especially Neji, just how far we "failures" can walk with our determination!"

"It seems… that I am the one who was unyouthful," Lee said as he pulled up the leggings of his spandex suit to show the weights he had strapped to his legs. He removed them and tossed them aside, shocking everyone present who did not know how heavy they were when they crashed to the ground, creating rather large craters. "Very well then, Hinata-san. I will no longer hold anything back. Just make sure you do not pull any punches either."

"I would not dream of it. Byakugan!" Hinata cried as the veins around her eyes pulsed. With that, Lee charged forward at a speed most could not follow.

...

"Is everyone in position?" Roshi, the jinchiriki of Son Goku, the Yonbi, asked the Iwa commander before him in the forests just outside of Konoha.

"Almost, Roshi-sama," the woman replied respectfully. "Han wanted you to know that there were some problems with a few of our men when we told them that our mission that was kept top-secret until now was to help Konoha during this invasion. There is still a grudge against the Hidden Leaf after all, after the last war."

The old man sighed, wondering why he had come back to Iwa at Onoki's request to lead this mission. **"Always the same with you humans, the vast majority of you always let your hatred speak in place of your logic," **Son Goku snorted within Roshi, which the old man chose to ignore.

"Tell Han to do what he has to do to defuse the situation. If he has to knock out a few morons, he has my express permission to do so. In fact, I insist. I have more important things to do than hear people moan about the past they cannot change."

"Hai, Roshi-sama!" the woman replied before she shunshinned away.

Roshi took out a scroll and looked over the battle plans he and his fellow geezer had written out. Onoki could only have a few dozen Iwa shinobi participate in this invasion due to most of them hating Konoha from the war, so the strategizing against Sound was very important. Fortunately, there were several high level shinobi that got over their losses, or at least put them aside to follow orders. Roshi had requested Kitsuchi to be his second-in command leading the S-rank mission, but Onoki had refused, stating he had to leave someone in charge of Iwagakure during the exams, and that would be Kitsuchi.

Han was Roshi's next choice, despite some protests from the troops about having two jinchuriki lead them. Han was willing to accept the role. He was a natural choice for the mission because of his strength and his ability for being calm, whatever insults were thrown at him, and his lack of a grudge for Konoha. While Han understandably hated humanity in general because of his treatment at the hands of those who considered jinchuriki the demons they held at bay, Han was fairly good at keeping his hatred in check. He also had the ability to respect the people who were different from most humans, the ones who got to know a person rather than judge them immediately. Once, the Gobi container had actually met the Yondaime Hokage during the war, and though they were enemies, Han bore no grudge for being beaten by the Yellow Flash, even if it was rather easily and humiliating from what Roshi heard.

Of course, now Roshi had to make adjustments to a few formations to account for the fact that there was probably going to be a few Iwa troops being taken off of the field, on account of Han possibly having to dish out a few concussions. If that was what it took to keep the situation from escalating, Roshi was prepared to have it done.

…..

"Commander! We have a messenger hawk from Suna here for you!" a Sand ninja shouted to the general leader of the Sunagakure invasion forces. With a confused frown, the commander followed his underling to where the hawk had settled. He recognized the Kazekage's seal, confusing him further, because if the hawk came from Suna, and the Kazekage was in Konoha, how would the Kazekage have sent the message from Suna? But the hawk was recognizable as one from Suna, and the commander even recognized a small, almost unnoticeable scar on the bird's talon, because this same hawk had delivered him messages twice before.

The commander took the scroll from the hawk, and unfurled it. His eyes narrowed as he read the Kazekage's message. "I see. Let each of the division leaders that there has been a change of plans."

The Sand shinobi nodded and shunshinned. The Sand commander turned his gave back to the Hidden Leaf, angered that their ally had so deviously deceived them like the letter said. He was quite eager to join the Leaf, and if the contents of the letter were accurate the Stone, in making certain that Orochimaru's signal would be him signing his own death warrant.

…..

The battle so far between the two former failures was even. Though it was clear that Lee was easily the faster of the two, Hinata was able to trace his movements fairly well. That said, though Lee tagged her with a few solid blows so far, she had been able to defend herself from the worst of it and land a few chakra laced nicks to Lee's extremities.

Lee backed off from another of these strikes, and rushed to one of the arena walls to run along it until he managed to get behind her and used the wall to kick off at her. Even if she could see behind her, it was still harder to block attacks coming from behind than from the front. Even so, she was able to turn around quickly enough to raise both arms to take the force of the kick he had aimed for her chest. She was thrown back but managed to keep on her feet and sidestep when Lee practically materialized in front of her and attempt to bring his knee into her chin. Her retaliatory attack was a swift kick to the side, which threw him to the side though he also recovered quickly. She pressed her advantage, engaging in a brief exchange of blows that ultimately resulted in Lee ramming his leg in the side of Hinata's head, only for her to vanish in a puff of smoke, being a Shadow Clone she had made the moment Lee had been reeling from her previous kick. The real Hinata rushed Lee from the side aand managed to land a direct hit to his side, forcing her chakra into his coils. He skidded away and coughed up a small amount of blood.

He panted for a second before he looked up to Gai, who nodded. He smiled and gazed at Hinata, who was once again in her Gentle Fist stance. "I hope you are prepared for what I have in store for you Hinata-san," he said as he undid the bandages on his arms. "I must warn you, I cannot guarantee your safety if we continue."

"I am prepared, Lee-san," Hinata stated. Her eyes widened when she saw an increase in Lee's chakra through her Byakugan.

_"First Gate, Gate of Opening, open!" _Lee thought before he was right in front of her again and kicked her in the chin, knocking her upwards. She floated for a second before he was behind her in the air and wrapped her in his bandages. Within an instant, they were both heading down to the ground while spinning at a high speed. "Primary Lot-"

Lee never finished as a cocoon of chakra coated Hinata, shredding the bandages and she slapped off of Lee to get the needed momentum for the rotation. "Kaiten!" the dome of chakra sprung in midair, slamming into Lee and throwing him painfully to the ground where he skidded several times before he stopped with a groan. Hinata righted herself and landed on her feet. Hiashi and Hanabi watched in surprise from the stands, the former wondering when Hinata learned to perform the technique, for he had yet to try teaching it to her.

"That… really hurts, Hinata-san," Lee said as he struggled to a sitting position. He rose to his feet with effort. "But, I am far from finished." Once again, Hinata's eyes were widening in shock as Lee's chakra coils were flooded with another burst of chakra. _"Second Gate, Gate of Healing, open! And now… Third Gate, Gate of Life, open!" _ Lee's skin turned bright red and Hinata cautiously prepared herself for whatever Lee had in store. She still barely noticed in time when lee charged again, faster than ever.

"Kaiten!" the defensive sphere once again appeared, but Lee retreated from its power, and rushed forward again when it stopped and kicked Hinata in the gut, causing her to be flung back and slammed into the wall with enough force to crack it. Lee followed up but was forced to back off when Hinata produced a Rasengan and thrust it at his oncoming approach.

They faced off once again, Hinata panting and bleeding a bit from the mouth while Lee decided to go all the way and open his two remaining gates. _"Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, open! Fith Gate, Gate of Limit, OPEN!" _Hinata rose to her feet and watched the display of chakra rush through his coils.

The spectators watched in awed silence while Itachi was explaining to the mostly confused genin watching the fight about the Eight Celestial Gates and after asking Gai, that Lee had opened five of them. Hinata realized that her chances of catching Lee with the Rasengan were slim at this point, and decided to unveil her new jutsu. A Rasengan appeared in each of her palms, and the spiraling chakra then seemed to disperse and spread over her forearms, to the shock of Naruto and Minato as they watched.

"What on earth-" Minato asked, surprised to see his creation altered in such a manner, the other kage also looking intrigued.

"How… is she doing that?" an awestruck Naruto queried, prompting Neji to activate his Byakugan to see the basis behind this ability.

"I am not sure," Neji said as he stared intently at this new form of the Rasengan's structure. "But from what I can see, she somehow spread the Rasengan's power over her arms while keeping it stable. It also seems as though she is emitting a small amount of chakra from the tenketsu in the area the Rasengan covers, which must have something to do with how it is stabilized in that form."

"I see," Naruto said looking down at his teammate in approval, realizing that while this new application of the Rasengan was less concentrated on one area, it would allow for a much easier time in defending against enemy attacks, and possibly landing the blows on enemies.

Meanwhile, Hiashi and other members of the Hyuuga clan were observing through their Byakugans, quite interested in the jutsu."Eight Trigrams Rasengan." Hinata said as she entered her stance once more. "Rasenken! (Spiraling Fists)

Lee stared at the technique for a few moments before he nodded and said, "Let's finish this, Hinata-san!"

Hinata charged Lee, who disappeared and reappeared behind her with his inhuman speed and threw a punch at the back of her head. She was just fast enough to turn and deflect the blow with her wrist, and there was a cracking noise as the Rasenken did its damage to Lee's fist. He hastily kicked Hinata in the chest to launch her away, though she was able to defend against the worst of the hit by emitting chakra from the spot the instant before impact. Lee clutched his clearly broken right hand for a moment before he resumed his attack. His next kick caught Hinata in the right side, causing her to cough up more blood, but she was still able to slam her hand down on his left leg before the momentum of the blow threw her away, and his tibia snapped from the power of the Rasenken. Hinata staggered when her feet stopped skidding, the Rasenken having gone out in her right arm so she could clutch her side, but it was still going on her left arm.

Lee meanwhile, sank momentarily to his knee. His body was feeling like it was falling apart at this point with the five gates he had opened so far tearing his muscles, and the bones where the Rasenken had struck were almost shattered at this point. He managed to force himself up, though it was clear that he was favoring his left leg, and he leapt a final time at Hinata, in hopes that he could finish this with a final decisive strike before she could land another blow with the new jutsu. But his body gave out on him at that moment and he fell short, skidding on his front at Hinata's feet.

Minato and Naruto meanwhile were thinking hard on the new version of the Rasengan. This Rasenken sacrificed the power of the original jutsu for a more widespread area of attack, or defense. Despite the slight lack of damage to the point of attack, the Rasenken was a better choice for defending against attacks or hitting an opponent in many cases, because with the Rasengan, there was really only one potential angle to use it for offense or defense. Not only that, but the Rasengan was a one blow jutsu before it was used up. The Rasenken seemed to stick around after each blow until the user decided to release it. It was clearly a high A rank, possibly low S rank jutsu.

"I declare Hinata Hyuuga the winner!" Hayate shouted to the applause of the crowd.

**A/N: Okay, seriously people, go to my profile and vote if you have not already! There is another poll I want to put up soon, and I still only have three votes for my current one. **

**Next chapter will cover the fights between Sakura vs. Tenten, and Hinata vs. Gaara, and possibly at least the start of Kiba vs. Kankuro. So vote and R&R please!**


	19. Chapter 18: Continuing Exams

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I finally got a vote for the poll, thank you! I still want more though… anyway…**

** The exams are going to continue in this chapter, Sakura and Tenten are going to fight it out, and hopefully Hinata will recover enough for a decent fight with Gaara.**

**Chapter 18: Continuing Exams**

"That was very impressive, Hinata," Shizune said to the heiress as she was patching her up. Lee had been taken to get treatment from Tsunade herself, to make sure Hinata had not done permanent damage added to the torn muscles he had given himself when he had opened his gates.

"I hope I did not hurt Lee too much," Hinata said, feeling a little guilty about the damage she caused.

"Don't worry, Tsunade is the best medic out there. Lee is in very good hands. Whatever damage you did to him was less than what he did to himself at any rate. I just hope I can patch you up enough for you to have a decent match against Gaara, I hear he is very tough."

…

"So what do you all think?" Minato asked the other "three" kage.

"I definitely think that the Hinata girl has a very good shot at making chunin," Onoki said thoughtfully. "She handled herself well against the boy after he opened five gates, no less. Not only that, but she knows several high ranked jutsu, one of them an original based off of one of her others.

"That Lee kid I am not so sure of. He definitely has talent and taijutsu ability, but that seems to be it. No ninjutsu or genjutsu, and he seems to be reckless with his own well-being."

"I agree entirely with the Tsuchikage," the disguised Orochimaru concurred. "The girl, almost certainly. The boy still has a good chance, though not nearly as good."

Mei nodded her agreement with the assessments. "Let's watch the second match, and see how these next two competitors do."

Sakura and Tenten stood in the arena staring each other down. "Now remember," Hayate began. "This extra match can only last a maximum of twenty minutes, and no matter who wins, you will have no matches after this one. So it is best if you two go all-out from the beginning. Begin!" He shouted the last word and activated a timer.

Sakura was very fast in pulling out a kunai and throwing it at Tenten, who dodged the weapon, expecting a hidden by genjutsu explosive tag attached to it, but did not get one. Sakura rushed the other girl with a kunai in hand. "Get ready to have your ass kicked!" the pink head declared as she thrust forward with her weapon.

Tenten dodged and unsealed a mace from a scroll. "I would say the same to you, but there is not much, if any ass to kick on you."

The genin in the stands froze as the words reached them. "She is so dead," a pale Naruto said to the agreement of Sasuke, who was sweat dropping.

Tenten swung the mace, but when she hit Sakura, she burst into petals. "Genjutsu," Tenten muttered as she looked around for the real Sakura. Her search was halted when she felt a hand grab her lower leg.

"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" Sakura declared as she yanked Tenten down. Unfortunately, tenten was having none of it as she brought her mace down at Sakura, forcing her to release her opponent after she was only shin-deep in the earth to avoid the blow. Tenten wasted no time unsealing a few shuriken from another scroll and throwing them at her opponent, giving her a needed opportunity to channel some chakra to her legs and burst out of the ground.

"Not bad pinky," Tent en said, taking out two scrolls and unfurling them. "Try this on: Twin Rising Dragons!"

"Crap," Sakura muttered, remembering this technique against Shikamaru. "Earth Style: Terra Shield!"

"Looks like Sakura has an affinity for earth," Sasuke said interestedly as they saw the slab of earth rise up in between the two kunoichi.

"Yep, she spent the month learning those techniques once she found out her affinity to the element," Kiba replied.

"Maybe I should train with her a little," Naruto mused, thinking of his own training with the element.

"That won't work!" Tenten shouted as the first of her weapons from her attack unsealed. "I have improved this technique!" As she said that, she started throwing the weapons at the slab, with exploding tags attached! Each weapon impacted the defense with a lot of force, the explosions cracking it before they blasted through it. Sakura's pained cry could be heard over the blasts.

"Should have thought of that long ago," Tenten said as she ended the technique and landed. Sakura's unconscious form was smoking a little. "Looks like you had better call the match proctor, she will need-" she was cut off when Sakura came out of the ground about 15 feet behind Tenten with a few of her own exploding tagged kunai, and threw them at Tenten. Only the older girl's reflexes saved her there, allowing her to dodge the worst of the explosive tags, though she still got rather singed. "What the- how did you do that?"

"Easy," Sakura replied. "I just went underground to avoid your assault and made you think you got me with my genjutsu, Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique. All done under the cover of my shield."

"Why you…" Tenten growled in frustration as she unsealed her mace again and charged.

"Earth Style: Terra Shield!" Sakura cast again.

"Not working this time!" Tenten declared as she leapt the barrier before Sakura could do anything behind it. She grinned and brought the mace down again. To her shock, Sakura merely dissolved and a bunch of exploding tags shimmered into view. "Shit!" Tenten shouted as they went off, the explosions dampened to a point where they would not be fatal, but the blast still sent Tenten flying into a wall. The girl slumped, too weak to move at this point. "How…"

Sakura came out of the ground again. "Easy, the fake body was not the only thing I did when I used the False Surroundings Technique. I also kept myself from view and had another image of me set up. I went underground then to avoid your attack as I said I did before. Then while you were still preoccupied throwing things at the fake body, I set up the exploding tags here, using my genjutsu to hide them. Then when you were done, I had the image come out of the ground where the tags were hidden and while I was still hiding with my genjutsu, I threw my remaining tags attached to kunai at you, while having my image do the same, timing it so it looked like she threw real ones so you would think she was real as well. When you charged, I went back underground to avoid my own trap while I had my image cast the Terra Shield, which was also an illusion by the way. Once you attacked my fake, you were in my trap. Hook, line and sinker."

"The winner is Sakura Haruno!" Hayate shouted. He checked the timer to see that the match had been just under ten minutes.

"Great…" Naruto muttered. "You might want to pack and flee the village, Itachi-sensei."

"Why?" the Uchiha asked before Tsunade burst onto the balcony.

"I told you Sakura would win the fight Gaki!" she said with glee. "Pay up!"

Itachi paled rapidly as he realized that Tsunade had beaten Naruto in a bet, and since Tsunade winning a bet was considered an omen on a scale of a Kyuubi attack, and since Naruto was a polar opposite and lost one… He was just about to take Naruto's advice when the blonde started laughing.

"Oh, you should see your face!" he chortled. "I told you he would fall for it Baa-chan. Now **you **pay up!"

"Lucky," Tsunade grumbled, handing. "I should have tried sabotaging it with bad acting."

"That would be cheating, now wouldn't it?"

"That was not funny," Itachi muttered, ignoring the sniggering from the genin and their jonin senseis that thought otherwise.

"That girl with the pink hair was quite impressive," Kurotsuchi said to her grandfather. "She totally outwitted the girl with the arsenal."

"I am in agreement," Onoki said. "She thought several steps ahead, luring her opponent into her trap expertly, and she kept her head the entire time, even after having been insulted with the not much to kick comment."

"She's got one over on Kushina, she would have tried to kill Tenten there and then," Minato chuckled before paling as he felt his wife's killing intent. "I said that aloud didn't I?"

"Er, you do realize that you are just proving his point right now, right?" Ao sweat dropped as everyone else in the kage box was treated to the show of Kushina throttling Minato.

"Are both of you prepared to fight?" Hayate asked a tired Hinata and the inscrutable Gaara. When they nodded he shouted, "Begin!"

Hinata quickly jumped back to avoid the swift wave of sand from Gaara's gourd. She knew that she would have to close in soon. She was suited to close range combat, and her opponent was best at fighting from a distance with that sand of his, and Naruto had told her that he likely had the ability to defend against most attacks with it as well. She also knew that she had to finish the fight fast if she wanted to win. Her chakra was rather low after her fight with Lee, though thanks to Shizune, her injuries were more manageable and her reserves were at about a third of their maximum.

She rushed the boy, intent on getting close enough to tag him with a Rasengan or a Rasenken. She ended up assaulted on all sides with several waves of sand. "Kaiten!" she shouted and her defensive rotation flung the sand away. Before she could continue her rush, she felt her feet being pulled down and realized that the sand beneath her feet had grabbed her and was tugging her into the ground. Thinking fast, she channeled chakra to her feet to loosen its grip and made a Shadow Clone, which grabbed her arm and managed to pull her free. The clone then proceeded to spin while still holding the original's arm and fling her at Gaara.

Gaara sent a few more waves of sand at the incoming Hyuuga. She formed a Rasengan in each hand again and converted them into the Rasenken, before using her new jutsu to knock away the incoming attacks. She landed about ten feet away from Gaara, whose Sand Shield rose up to defend him from her next attack. She plunged one of her Rasenken fists into the shield and the sand dispersed from around where her arm was, allowing her to get through the defense. Gaara's eyes widened and he started to back up, but Hinata stayed with him and used her remaining chakra to return the Rasenken on one of her arms back to its original state. "Rasengan!" she cried as she forced the sphere into the Ichibi container's gut.

"Uuuuurgghh!" Gaara gritted out as he was thrown back and hit one of the trees in the arena. Hinata fell to her hands and knees panting.

"No way…" Temari said with Baki and Kankuro also looking on in disbelief. "Did she really just manage to get a hit off on Gaara?"

"Please let Gaara still be conscious," Kankuro said with his face paling under his war paint (*cough* I mean make-up *cough*).

_"This is bad," _Baki thought in fear. _"If Gaara just lost, the plan may be jeopardized." _

Hinata was just starting to rise when a large amount of sand suddenly wrapped around her, restraining her movements. Gaara rose to his feet, wincing as chips of his Sand Armor fell from his gut where the Rasengan had hit, showing that even with the layer of protection, he had the abdomen part of his shirt torn pretty bad and he was bleeding a small amount from the impact zone. Some internal damage was also evident from a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"I give up," Hinata sighed. "I do not have any more chakra to fight at this point, and even if I did, he has me."

"The victor is Gaara!" Hayate shouted to the crowd, who were quite entertained by the fight.

Gaara released Hinata and she fell to the ground again. He stepped up to her and held his hand down to her, causing his siblings and Baki to once again wonder what the hell had gotten into him lately. "You did quite well," he stated as she took his hand and he helped her up. "That was the first time anyone has wounded me. (_In this timeline at least.)_You should get some rest now."

"Well, that match was far too short for my tastes," Mei said as Hinata walked back up next to Naruto, who was offering encouragement to her, and Gaara rejoined his siblings. "But it more than made up for it with the entertainment value packed all the way through."

"I agree with that," Onoki said with a chuckle. "That Gaara boy of yours Kazekage, he has a solid ability for long range combat, and would have had most enemies at his mercy before they even got close enough to test those defenses he has shown. The girl had already impressed me in her last match, but this time she also displayed quick thinking when she was caught. Those Shadow Clones… such a useful jutsu eh?" He laughed as he thought about the time the jutsu had recently saved him ever since he learned it could be used to defeat the devil reincarnate.

"You have no idea," Minato chuckled. "I would hate to go through another day in office as Hokage without that godsend to help defeat the paperwork I have to deal with."

Both Mei and the disguised Kazekage stared at Minato with shocked expressions on their faces. "Do you want the scroll Lady Mizukage?" Ao asked with a sweat drop and she nodded. He fumbled in his robes for a moment and gave her a scroll he had packed. She unfurled it and unsealed a wooden post that had the words, _for when realizing something completely obvious, _engraved on it.

As she proceeded to bruise her brain by banging her head against it, calling herself an idiot with each impact, Orochimaru buried "his" face in his hands and wept anime tears. _"How could I have not thought of that?" _he mentally demanded to no one in particular._"I am supposed to be the genius of the Sannin for crying out loud! If I had just figured that out long ago, I could have done so many of those experiments I had to scrap due to lack of time!"_

"So you know about that then?" Onoki cackled with glee as he and Minato took in the reactions of the other kage. "Honestly, when I was told that was the key, I had a similar reaction to the Mizukage, only my desk was what was on hand. Well good for you for knowing while you are still young, maybe you won't get any wrinkles or gray hairs for a while yet."

"Too late for that," Kushina chuckled and she sifted through Minato's hair, which caused him to pale, and frantically unseal a mirror from a scroll and try to find the culprit hair. "I'm just kidding honey," she laughed to his relief.

"I don't know whether I want to kiss you two right now or kill you for not letting me in on the secret sooner," Mei said when she finished with her self-inflicted punishment and pointed at Minato and Onoki.

"I could do with a kiss," Onoki said with his face reddening and his nose bleeding, earning a punch to the back of his head from his granddaughter.

"Uh uh, this guy is mine to both kiss and kill," Kushina said with her arms wrapped around Minato from behind. "Aren't you honey?" she asked with her voice dripping false sweetness and her grip tightened marginally with a touch of killing intent.

"Yes ma'am!" the blond hastily replied with a pitch in his tone.

"Well color me surprised," Akatsuchi laughed. "I had no idea that the legendary Yellow Flash was so whipped."

"Got a problem with that?" Minato growled as he flared some of his own killing intent, showing that he could be pretty damn scary himself.

"N-no sir!" Akatsuchi gulped.

"If this comedy session is now over," the disguised kage sighed. "The next match should be just about to start.

"Begin!" Hayate declared and Kankuro immediately jumped back as far as he could to get some distance from his opponent and brought out Crow as he went. Kiba also wasted no time in taking a food pill and giving one to Akamaru. They took on their mutual man-beast clone forms and rushed Kankuro and his puppet.

"Fang over Fang!" Kiba growled as he and Akamaru took on their drill forms. Kankuro responded with a chuckle and had Crow fire a poison smoke bomb between him and his oncoming attackers. Expecting this to at least buy time for him to protect himself, Kankuro dashed towards the cover of the trees.

Kiba thought fast, stopped his attack and while still in midair threw a kunai with an exploding tag at the smoke ahead of Akamaru. The explosion dispersed the smoke cloud allowing Akamaru to continue uninterrupted after Kankuro past Crow. Kankuro hastily used his skills to dodge and attempted to bring Crow between him and his attacker again. Kiba was once again using his drill like attack to go after Kankuro, resulting in the puppet master dodging again and having Crow fire poison kunai at the dog boy before hastily jumping to the side, dodging the worst of Akamaru's attack but getting the front of his shirt torn when he still got grazed.

Kiba stopped his attack again and deflected the poisoned weapons with one of his own kunai before attaching another tag to the one he used and throwing it at the puppet master, who was forced to ignore Crow for a second to avoid the deadly blast. This turned out to be a mistake. A puppet user's main weakness was their inability to focus on themselves and their puppets at the same time, especially the ones with little experience. As a result, whenever a puppeteer was using the puppet, he made himself more vulnerable to attack. This also worked the other way. Whenever the user was busy doing something that did not involve using their puppets, such as dodging, this left said puppets vulnerable. While discussing potential strategies with Akamaru, Kiba and his faithful partner came to this conclusion. End result: while Kankuro was busy avoiding the explosive tag, Akamaru smashed into Crow, blasting the tool into pieces.

"Wow, Kiba was never that smart while he was in the academy," Naruto said to Sakura as she cheered on her teammate. _"Or in the previous timeline either, but I can't say that aloud."_

"Yeah, he was an idiot," Sakura agreed. "But when we became Team 8, I started beating him a little whenever he did something stupid. Unfortunately, that turned out to be rather often at first," she deadpanned the last part and Naruto sweat dropped while Sasuke made mental note to be careful if she ever completely shook off her fan girl persona. "Eventually he learned to start thinking before he acted, which was a good thing. You may not have known it from the way he acted in the past, but he actually has a decent head when he bothers to use it."

"You've got him pretty well trained then, huh?" Naruto sniggered and Sakura laughed as well.

"Yeah, but he hates it when I use that particular "T" word about him. But yes, I was able to get him to research puppetry a little even though he hates reading, so he knew from the get go that the weapons and smoke were probably poisoned, and you can see that he is taking pains to avoid it."

Kankuro cursed as he was forced to avoid another set of attacks from his two opponents. If he could only get a free moment, he could attach his chakra strings to a few key pieces of Crow and still use them, but the assault from his opponents was relentless. Thinking as hard as he could under the pressure, he came up with a hasty plan. As the two drills came at him, he decided to wait for the right moment before leaping between them and past them. Their momentum would carry them away from him and he would be able to have a few moments to get the pieces of Crow he needed to try a continued fight.

_"Now!" _he thought as he implemented his idea. Unfortunately for him, Kiba had already had this method of dodging shown to him by his sister Hana, and he had a counter. With a shit eating grin, Kiba stopped his rotation again and threw a blunt kunai to Akamaru, who stopped his spinning as well to catch it. Kankuro then felt the impact of a ninja wire at the moment he was between his opponents and he realized that said wire was attached to the kunai Kiba had thrown to Akamaru, while Kiba had another kunai attached to the other end.

Kankuro was slammed to the ground and Kiba and Akamaru drove their kunai into the ground, pinning the puppeteer down. Kankuro realized that his chances of getting free before they had the chance to use their drilling attack on him were nonexistent. "Proctor, I withdraw from the match," he said.

"Winner by surrender, Kiba Inuzuka!" Hayate shouted and the crowd cheered.

"Guess you are next, huh Shikamaru?" Naruto said to the lazy Nara as they watched a sullen Kankuro gather the pieces of his broken puppet, while Kiba was still doing his victory dance.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed as he watched Temari get into the ring by leaping the railings on her fan. "I have to fight another girl _(not to mention one of the same girls as last time)._You do realize that I have to make chunin right?"

While everyone else present just assumed that it was either because he was too scared of his mother to fail or because Asuma was groaning about being the only Leaf sensei present who had students not in the third round, Naruto knew the real reason. After they had restored the Nara's memories, his slight smoking addiction he had acquired after Asuma had died last time had returned mentally, and he was still fighting minor withdrawal symptoms. Once he was a chunin, the old enough to kill, old enough to drink, old enough to smoke would finally legally apply to him, so he was a little more motivated to get the rank this time.

"That's the spirit Shikamaru!" Naruto laughed and Shikamaru froze and shivered.

_"Why do I have the bad feeling that I forgot something important that is troublesome for me and will cause me pain?" _he thought before he was pushed over the railing by the overenthusiastic blonde- again. _"Oh, that's why."_

CRASH. Temari winced in slight sympathy as Shikamaru landed headfirst in the arena, kicking up some dust. "Troublesome fights, troublesome girls, troublesome blondes, troublesome _blonde girls_," Shikamaru chanted, loud enough for Temari to hear, causing her to develop a tick mark at the last part. "And troublesome skull fractures," Shikamaru finished as he rose.

….

The air above the Hokage monument cracked and six figures stepped from the rift onto the head of the Sandaime. Three of them were wearing Akatsuki cloaks, one of them recognizable as Kisame, while another was rather bulky under his cloak though he was short, and had a mechanical tail. The third of this set had darkish skin and wore a cloth over his mouth.

The other three had very few features that showed beyond their own hooded cloaks in pure black, though one had a short sword strapped across his back, the hilt in a spot that suggested he was left-handed, while another had a noticeably empty right sleeve. As this group had planned, Iwa had involved both of their jinchuriki in the invasion, which meant that during the chaos would be a perfect chance to take a massive step towards their goals.

The cloaked figure with the missing right arm looked towards the arena, and his remaining fist clenched. _"Soon, Sasuke Uchiha, I will make good on the promise that I made when last we met."_

**A/N: Sorry if the fight between Hinata and Gaara was too short, but she did just have a fight with Lee, so it makes sense that her gambit led to a quick match, though she did put up a good fight.**

**Next chapter will host Shikamaru fighting Temari, followed by Naruto fighting Shino. Quite possibly there will be the fight between Kin and Neji before the chapter is done, but I make no promises.**

**Please review, my ego needs feeding, and I do not want to hear it complaining about being hungry. I have better things to do than listen to the irritant, one of them being writing this story.**


	20. Chapter 19:Very Soon

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I was hoping to have 150 reviews by the time I posted this chapter, *weeps anime tears* but since I already had a recent delay in posting chapters, and because my last chapter got a lot of reviews, I won't be holding the next few hostage… yet.**

**I have decided to close the poll on my next story, due to a seeming lack of interest in it. It seems as though the winner of the poll is Cosmos, so Ichigo gets to bat for the home team from the get go! Yay!**

** The exams continue in this chapter and the time of the invasion is approaching fast. It is Shikamaru vs. Temari first, and how will Shino fare against Naruto? Then Kin will try to fight Neji for the second exhibition match.**

**Chapter 19: Very Soon…**

_"Was it really too much to hope for, for someone to make a hole where I needed it?" _Shikamaru thought as he stepped into place to face Temari, thinking about how he was going to fight this time. _"I guess that I am just going to catch her another way. Lucky I thought ahead for this fight." _His hand was on his weapon pouch as he thought this.

"Begin!" Hayate shouted and Shikamaru was quick to dash for the cover of the trees, throwing a few shuriken at Temari as he went. She simply deflected them off of her fan and opened it all the way immediately afterwards.

"Wind Style: Sickle Weasle Technique!" she shouted and Shikamaru dove into the cover not a second too soon as the gale blasted after him, stripping the bark from several of the trees as it went. The Nara was still cut up pretty bad, but he escaped the worst of it.

Temari smirked before she saw a certain black line speeding towards her. She quickly jumped back several times to avoid it before she drew a line where it would end. True to her calculations the Shadow Possession Jutsu stopped right at the line. Shikamaru noted that it was a little farther back than it had been the last time, due the fact it had taken longer to get to this fight than it had last time, so the shadows he used were longer. "Sorry, but I know how that jutsu works. All I have to do is stay behind this line and you can't touch me."

Shikamaru shrugged and entered his meditative pose. He did have to come up with a new strategy this time, but that did not mean that he had to toss away some of the things he did last time. "What sign is that?" Kurenai asked Asuma as they watched from their place on the stands. She was then treated to a brief lecture on Shikamaru's intellect from her boyfriend. She was truly shocked when she heard of his inhuman IQ score. At that point, Shikamaru rose and threw some shuriken and kunai at Temari, who deflected them with her fan again before she noticed his shadow coming for her again. She made sure she was behind her "safe line" before she realized the danger and jumped further back just in time to avoid the shadow as it passed the line. Clearly he had stalled enough to let the shadows lengthen with the day. She retaliated with another wind burst at him, forcing him to take cover behind the tree, removing his vest and tying it off to a kunai.

"Come on, Shikamaru, get her!" Ino shouted at her teammate from her spot in the stands next to Choji, who was carelessly eating his chips.

Temari was gloating that she still had Shikamaru cornered when Kankuro shouted, "Temari, above you!" Temari looked up in time to see the makeshift parachute made of Shikamaru's vest and a kunai float over the arena, its shadow approaching…

"Shit!" Temari cursed as she dashed to the side and Shikamaru used the shadow of the parachute to extend his range in another attempt to catch her, but he once again failed and the parachute fell to earth, its shadow now useless. Temari smirked at Shikamaru, and she quickly formed a plan to use a standard clone as a distraction so she could finish the fight before the shadows of her opponent got any longer than they already were. Before she could though, she saw the boy raise his arm up with a roundish object in his hands and throw it down behind the tree he was next to. There was a flash of light, for it was indeed a flash bomb he had thrown down, and the shadow of the tree flared forward, ending right next to Temari. She desperately tried to jump away, but it was too late. Shikamaru's shadow came from the tree's and she was caught before she had gone three feet.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu is a success," Shikamaru said as he walked up to Temari, her meeting him halfway. "Now then, shall we do this the easy way with you giving up, or…" Temari froze as she felt Shikamaru's shadow slowly come up her body in the form of a hand, and rest on her neck as though it was solid. "Will I have to deprive you of air for the next minute and render you unconscious?"

"Ughh," Temari groaned. "Fine, Proctor, I give up…"

Hayate raised an arm and shouted, "Winner by surrender, Shikamaru Nara!"

_"Great, now please let that be enough for a promotion," _Shikamaru thought, practically begging any deity that was listening. _"I can't stand going without a smoke for much longer, and if Asuma catches me trying to pilfer his stash again…" _Shikamaru shuddered at the memory of the one time he had tried that. Asuma could be pretty scary when it came to defending his stash.

"Odd," Shikaku said. "I do not remember teaching Shikamaru the Shadow Strangulation part of the jutsu… eh, it's too troublesome to figure out."

"Huh, I thought Shikamaru woulda quit by now," Choji said as he burped, before he got hit upside the head by Ino, though whether it was because of the lack of faith in their teammate or the rude burp or a combination, she never said.

"That was a pretty impressive match," the fake Kazekage mused. "He was able to strategize quite efficiently and forced her to where he could get her the easiest with that flash bomb's extension of the tree's shadow. It was also impressive that he was able to outwit my daughter, she is a smart girl…"

Minato and Kushina stiffened though no one else noticed. _"You should not call a person not related to you your daughter, Orochimaru, even if you are trying to maintain a charade." _ Minato thought with irritation. _"It is insulting to the one who actually raised the child."_

"I agree with the assessment of the Nara boy, Onoki replied. "His wits were a great asset in this battle. If he is not made a chunin, I will be seriously questioning the intelligence of everyone else in this village."

"Good luck Naruto-kun," Hinata said as the blond adjusted Arashikatta's strap before he headed to the steps.

"Not to worry, Hinata-chan, I have no intention of losing to Shino," Naruto said with a smirk. "He is good and all, but I want to face Sasuke too much to let him beat me." He jumped into the arena while Shino simply took the stairs.

"I hope you are prepared for a tough battle Namikaze-san," Shino stated. "For I too desire to face Uchiha-san in the next round."

"This will be a good fight," Onoki said. "I am looking forward to seeing exactly what the Yellow Flash's son is capable of."

"Wasn't he part of the team that convinced Zabuza to join this village?" Mei asked interestedly.

"Yep, that's right," Kushina boasted. "He actually managed to single-handedly defeat one of said nil-brow's Water Clones, and he has only gotten stronger since then."

"That is pretty impressive," Mei replied. "I too am eager to see what he is capable of."

"If the strength his teammate Hinata has shown is any indication," Minato said with a smile. "We will be in for a treat when he fights Sasuke, for I have no doubt my son will win this round."

"Oh, so the happy couple are teammates then?" Mei asked with a devious chuckle, causing Minato and Kushina to sputter and go a very deep shade of red.

"A- a couple?" Kushina asked in shock, pounding Minato's back, because he had been taking a refreshing sip of lemonade when Mei had said the statement, and was now choking on it.

"Of course, are you blind?" Mei giggled. "Even from here it was plain to see the way the two look at each other. They are completely love struck."

"Great," a recovered Minato sighed. How could they have missed it? "Looks like one of us is going to be stuck giving him "the dreaded talk" already." He and Kushina stared intensely at each other before they launched into a few furious rounds of Janken **(A/N: the Japanese equivalent of Rock, Paper, Scissors)**, the first two tying, before Minato won the third round, to Kushina's furious displeasure.

"Fine," she pouted with her arms crossed, ignoring Kurotsuchi's sniggering. "But you get Akari and the next one when the time comes for them."

Minato had once again chosen the wrong moment to take a drink of his beverage before he choked again. "N-next one?" he gasped after he had full use of his bronchial tubes again. "You don't mean that you're…"

"Gotcha!" Kushina cackled while pointing at her embarrassed husband with both of her index fingers, earning chuckles from most present and a relieved sigh from Minato. "Although, after last night's "fun," who knows, I might be."

Minato's face was a did a very good impression of what Hinata's used to around Naruto, while Onoki was once again pounded on the head by Kurotsuchi for thinking perverted thoughts that were evidenced by the trickle of blood from his oversized nose. "Please don't discuss our…bedroom activities… around others so casually Kushina," Minato groaned with his face in both of his hands.

"Not my fault you are so easy to tease."

"Lucky bastard," Onoki muttered.

"Begin!"

Naruto drew Arashikatta and channeled some wind chakra into the blade before slashing in Shino's direction, discharging the chakra from the blade and sending the chakra slash at the Aburame in the same manner as Felix's Thundering Gale Slice, though not quite as fast or powerful. "Gale Slash!" the blonde shouted as he did this. Shino reacted quickly enough to dodge and sent a wave of his insects at Naruto.

"Huh, that's an interesting technique," Asuma mused after seeing the Gale Slash. As he watched Naruto avoid the insects and create two Shadow Clones, he continued, "I'm going to have to ask him where he learned to do that. It would come in handy to be able to still apply my fighting style from a distance like that."

Shino ducked a swarm of shuriken from the clones Naruto made and dived to the side when the original closed in during the diversion and attempted to cut him with his ninjato. After Shino finished rolling away from this last attack, he sent two more waves of insects at Naruto, who dived back and sent another Gale Slash at the leading wave, splitting it. Before he went too far, Shino tossed an exploding kunai at the blonde, which exploded in Naruto's face, only for the blonde to turn out to be a Shadow Clone.

"Jeez, Shino, what is with your team and exploding tags?!" the real Naruto demanded as he attacked Shino from behind, impaling the Aburame with his blade, only for him to dissolve into insects, showing him to be a clone.

"My apologies, but they are most useful," Shino stated from the center of the arena, having taken out the other two clones Naruto had made earlier while they had been occupied with the Insect Clone, which the insects it was made of were now trying to get on Naruto, who quickly backed up to avoid the swarm. Shino pushed his shades up before he continued, "Besides, my clan has most of their chakra set aside for our tenants to consume, so we are limited in our jutsu use. The tags that Sakura makes for the team is one way for me to compensate against enemies I can't beat with my insects alone."

"Can't argue there," Naruto replied, sheathing Arashikatta. "Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!" he declared as he formed three signs, gathered wind chakra into his left fist and thrust it at the approaching swarm, grabbing the bicep of his left arm with his right hand as he did so, jarring his left arm and stopping its momentum, causing the wind chakra to burst from his fist, widening as it went and scattering the swarm as it came. The Wind Scattershot is a very useful B rank jutsu that was best used for close to mid range combat, due to it losing power as it widened its area of attack as it went. It was excellent for a heavy blow at point blank range, though it was also useful for dealing with multiple weaker foes from a slight distance, as Naruto demonstrated against Shino's insects.

Naruto turned to the real Shino to see three Insect clones rushing him, two in front, and the third leaping into the air to go above Naruto. The blonde made a single Shadow Clone hastily. "Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!" they both shouted, the clone targeting the Insect Clone above them and the original aiming for the two in front of him. The wind bursts hit all three insect clones, scattering the insects… and revealing the exploding tags that had been concealed inside of them. "Sh-!" the original Naruto started before the tags detonated at point blank range.

"It seems I am the victor," Shino said as the smoke cleared to show Naruto's unconscious and slightly smoking form. His musings were cut short as Naruto burst from the ground in front of Shino while the Naruto that Shino had seen disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before the Aburame could react, he was run through a non vital spot by Arashikatta.

"Nope, sorry," Naruto said as Shino coughed up blood. "You got me a little there with that blast, but I was fast enough to burrow beneath the ground to escape the worst of it and cover my tracks with that clone. _Works like a freaking charm pretty often too," _he thought that last part with a grin as he remembered his victory over Neji last time. "I suggest you surrender now, I clearly got the real you with that blood you are-" he was cut off as "Shino" dissolved into insects again, a broken blood capsule falling to the ground. "Shit, I fell for it!" Naruto cursed as he leapt back again, this time covered with a few insects, though he managed to avoid the bulk of the swarm. "Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!" he hit the swarm again, killing the insects in front of him, and the ones that had gotten onto him left his body, unable to consume any more of his staggering reserves.

Naruto whipped around to see the real Shino come from the ground and throw two more exploding kunai at him. Just in time, Naruto sent a Gale Slash at the kunai, detonating them both halfway between him and Shino, so neither genin was harmed. "Proctor, I withdraw," Shino said with a sigh then, shocking everyone present. "I am almost out of my insects, and if I use anymore, I risk losing the entire hive, and those were my last exploding tags as well. That was my last gambit, and even if I had a few more tries, I doubt I could defeat my opponent. He has hardly been drained at all from my efforts thus far."

Hayate nodded. "Winner by surrender, Naruto Namikaze!" The crowd pouted a little then, disappointed with how the fight had ended, but they had to admit it was good while it lasted, and they did now have Naruto vs. Sasuke to look forward to, as soon as the final extra exhibition match was finished.

Naruto and Shino walked back up the steps, letting the Sound kunoichi pass them as they went while Neji leapt into the arena to face her.

"Well, that was quite entertaining," the fake Kazekage chuckled. "Your son Minato, was able to effectively counter all of his opponent's efforts throughout the fight and clearly has a large amount of reserves, for he barely seems winded. That said, the Aburame also made a good showing of himself throughout, using tactics that would have been rather effective against just about any other lesser opponent, and even upon realizing he was beaten, calmly cut his losses, recognizing that the preservation of his hive was more important than showing a final exchange of blows to the judges. Both have earned the rank of chunin in my eyes."

"Yes, that was very impressive," Onoki said. "And I for one know that is not all your son can do right?"

"Well, Sasuke should be good enough to show us that," Minato said. "I just hope the two teammates don't end up killing each other before the match ends."

"Why?" Mei asked. "Do they hate each other or something?"

"No, quite the opposite actually. They are very close friends, best friends in fact. That is why they have such a high level of respect for each other and will very likely give it their all during the fight. They would not be able to forgive each other if they gave anything but their best in the match."

_"That works just fine for me," _Orochimaru thought. _"Soon, I will see just what my new vessel is capable of, kukukuku…" _

Kin stood in front of Neji and shivered in fear at the prospect of what Orochimaru would do if she dared to lose.

_Flashback_

_"Now Kin, I hope you realize just how disappointed I am in you and your teammates," Orochimaru, while disguised as the Sound team's jonin sensei, was saying in the hospital room the girl's broken bones were being treated in. "However, you are luckier than they are, because you were given another fight to compete in… I hope you know what will happen if you fail me?"_

_Kin could not even move in fear of the killing intent she felt from her master. She had been given the job of killing the Hyuuga genius in the extra match in hopes of removing a foe capable of killing a few Sound ninja when the invasion began. A daunting prospect to be sure… but when she heard what Orochimaru planned to do with Dosu and Zaku, she knew she could not afford to fail._

_She watched Orochimaru leave and could finally breathe again. Now she knew… she served a complete monster._

_End Flashback_

Since that day, the girl lost count of the times she had considered fleeing, but got too scared to actually do so. She knew that Orochimaru would hunt her down if she tried to betray him, and fear for her life was enough to prevent her from doing so.

"Begin!"

Kin ran for the trees just like Shikamaru had done when he had fought Temari, throwing a few senbon at her foe. This time, she had poisoned them with a mild but fast acting hallucinogenic that would help to make her genjutsu more effective. Of course, Neji easily weaved between the incoming needles, not even getting a scratch.

Kin jumped to one of the thicker branches of a tree, and then immediately jumped to another as her opponent was quick to follow and attempt to strike her with an open palm. The exploding tag she put on the tree trunk to cover her retreat went off then but Neji was quick enough to avoid the blast by jumping back before resuming his bid for close combat. Kin wasted none of the time she bought in preparing her bells by throwing the senbon they were attached to into different tree trunks. Neji got right in the center of these and was about ten feet away from Kin. The girl smiled and jumped back as she started ringing her bells, confident that her opponent would not be able to reach her or disable the bells before her genjutsu set in.

Of course, she forgot one thing. "Kaiten!" Neji shouted as the dome of rotating chakra sprung out and destroyed every single bell before she could use her genjutsu. Her eyes widened in horror as his absolute defense was used to quickly eliminate the catalyst for her technique. She timed her senbon throws to try to catch him just as his rotation stopped, but he simply deflected them with his hands. "You are within my range of divination," he said as he got into the stance. "Eight Trigrams, 64 Palms!"

He charged and struck all 64 of Kin's tenketsu he had targeted. Needless to say, she was nowhere near as tough as Naruto had been when he had been hit with the attack, and she went down like a sack of potatoes. Hayate declared Neji the winner.

_"Oh well, I did not expect Kin to win anyway," _Orochimaru mused while the other kage discussed the match._ "I shall have to have her dealt with during the invasion…"_

Naruto and Sasuke were going down the steps to the arena side by side and Naruto handed Sasuke a food pill. "Remember, it's for when the shit hits the fan, don't take it during the fight," the blonde said.

Sasuke nodded and they got into the center of the arena. _"Very soon…" _Orochimaru thought._ "The invasion will begin, and I will crush the Hidden Leaf village and take Sasuke as my next host. Kukukuku… and thanks to Raizen's… generous contribution," _His eyes opened to show that the whites had turned crimson and the pupils were maroon with golden x's where the iris should be._ "I cannot fail, not with this power! And once I've added the Sharingan to this power…"_

Naruto and Sasuke stood face to face in the arena. "Glad I get to use these now, I've been saving them for this fight!" Naruto said as he took out a scroll and unsealed a large number of Hiraishin kunai, gaining the crowd's interest.

"He can use Hiraishin?" Mei asked in surprise and both Minato and Kushina nodded.

_"He's held out on me," _Shino thought with mild irritation.

Hayate nodded to both boys as the crowd held its breath in anticipation. "Begin!"

**A/N: Next chapter will have what you have all been waiting for: Naruto vs. Sasuke at last! And the invasion will start as well about halfway through the chapter, give or take, but I can still promise a good fight before it is interrupted!**

**I posted a new poll yesterday and already have some votes. My new poll is about the jinchuriki. Yes, I do plan on letting Raizen and the Akatsuki at least coming close to forming the Jyuubi, incomplete or not, though I won't tell if they succeed yet. So of the five jinchuriki I will possibly kill off, I plan on sparing two for sure, which is what you will get to vote for it. I may or may not spare a third, but that will be my decision alone. How they will be spared is either them failing to get caught in or rescued the first place, and the antagonists only getting a piece of the chakra that they need, or Xackary reviving them after they lose their Bijuu, that being my choice again.**

**So read, vote and review! I am still weeping over missing 150 reviews!**


	21. Chapter 20: The Invasion Begins!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Funny, the new poll already seems more popular than the last ones. I already have 15 voters. So far, I have more or less predicted the way most of the votes were going to go. Keep going, for those who have not voted!**

**Now, we will finally see some real action as Naruto and Sasuke go at it. And the invasion will commence in this chapter!**

**Chapter 20: The Invasion Begins!**

Naruto launched his first Hiraishin kunai at Sasuke, who drew his sword and deflected it with a casual swipe of it and rushed the blonde. Naruto threw two more to the sides to give himself more options before drawing Arashikatta to block Sasuke's blade, which had lightning chakra running through it. Fortunately, Naruto was already conducting wind chakra through his ninjato, so Sasuke's sword did not cut through. They broke apart and Sasuke activated his Sharingan, the three tomoe impressing everyone present. This was the match most of the crowd had come to see, a matchup between a prodigy of the famous Uchiha clan and the son of the legendary Yondaime Hokage. The fact that they were teammates only made things all the more interesting for them.

Naruto responded to the activation of the Sharingan by creating about thirty Shadow Clones, really amazing most jonin who recognized them. Many of those jonin could not make that many without exhausting themselves, but Naruto was not even winded or breaking a sweat, a testament to just how high his stamina was.

Sasuke made four of his own Shadow Clones to try to even the odds slightly and all of them rushed the small Naruto army. The following mass kenjutsu battle was a sight to behold, and Hayate was seriously considering requesting permission from the Hokage to teach the two of them his signature technique, the Crescent Moon Dance. With knowledge of both kenjutsu and Shadow Clones, they already had the foundation for the technique.

Sasuke was having a small amount of trouble with Naruto's superior numbers in this fight. He or one of his clones would manage to dispel one of Naruto's only for at least two more to attack. If it was not for the Sharingan, he would not have lasted very long. The ring of multiple blades clashing sounded out throughout the arena, along with the pops of clones being dispelled. Itachi activated his Sharingan to make sure he would be able to keep up with the fight.

Sasuke backed up and had six Naruto clones coming at him from all sides, while Naruto was leaping forward and whipping around to face the two Sasuke clones that had tried to close in on him from the sides.

"Chidori Stream!" Sasuke shouted and all six Naruto clones hit the shock barrier and dispelled.

"Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!" Naruto bellowed and hit both Sasuke clones in front of him and they dispelled. Both Team 7 members turned to each other to see that only the originals remained, all the clones having been dispelled. Naruto immediately made fifty more.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Sasuke said with a sweat drop before he ran to the wall, with the Shadow Clone army, the original in the lead. Moving fast, Sasuke ran about a quarter of the way up the wall before leaping off of it, casting hand signs as he sailed above and behind Naruto and his clones. "Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" The clones had an uh-oh look on their faces as they saw the inferno descend.

Sasuke grinned before he saw the kunai that were thrown into the air. Hiraishin ones. All fifty clones and the original Naruto teleported above the fireball to avoid it and they were all facing Sasuke, who was still in the air, and making familiar hand seals. "Shit," the raven haired boy said as he made the familiar cross seal and made three Shadow Clones and they all quickly cast hand signs.

"Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!" all fifty one Narutos shouted in unison and launched massive airwaves at Sasuke, thanking Kami that there were potent barrier seals protecting the crowd from attacks that came from the arena. While the distance would normally have kept too much damage from occurring to Sasuke or the bystanders, fifty one Narutos at once using the jutsu had the effect of increasing its potency.

"Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke and his clones shouted and blasted their attacks at the incoming gale that put Temari's to shame. The fire and wind attacks met in midair and struggled against one another for a moment before they canceled each other out, and both combatants landed and their clones dispelled.

They ran straight at each other and Sasuke cast some hand signs, causing his arm to be coated in lightning chakra and Naruto held a chakra sphere in his hand.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

Both attacks slammed into each other. Naruto and Sasuke struggled against one another for supremacy, neither one giving the other any ground. "They really are trying to kill each other aren't they?" Minato groaned as he wept anime tears into his hands.

"Sasuke should not be using such a dangerous jutsu against a comrade," the dog mask wearing ANBU behind Minato groaned.

"Lighten up you two," Kushina said even though she also looked worried. "They know that they can handle the worst that the other throws at the other. This is the kind of battle they wanted to have for a while now, and if things go south, we have Tsunade back."

"That's what I am worried about," Minato grumbled. "If Naruto ends up in her care, she will put him in even worse shape than he came in for being a baka." Further conversation was halted when the clashing jutsus went off, exploding with enough force to launch both users back into the walls of the arena.

"Ugh, that's gonna hurt in the morning," Naruto groaned as he rose from his wall crater and Sasuke followed suit.

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself Dobe, I don't have a healing factor like you do," Sasuke grumbled in reply.

"Jealous of my greatness Teme?" Naruto mocked as he drew his ninjato again.

"Hardly." Sasuke rolled his eyes and they dashed at each other again, Sasuke drawing his own blade as he went. They clashed blades for a moment before Naruto snapped a kick into Sasuke's gut, which the Uchiha actually recovered fast from and grabbed Naruto's leg with his free hand and spun to throw the blonde and cast his hand signs. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" The large dragon shaped blaze roared forth from Sasuke's mouth and straight at Naruto, who was still in the air.

"Thanks, I've wanted to try this out for a while now," Naruto grinned before he thrust Arashikatta forward and poured some of his chakra into the seals to activate them. The flaming dragon hit the sword and was absorbed right into it, surprising the crowd and Sasuke. Naruto cast a few signs then. "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld Jutsu!" Sasuke froze as he felt his feet sinking into the ground and he realized he was in trouble when Naruto poured chakra into Arashikatta again and flames gathered into the blade.

Remembering how Hinata had escaped Gaara's sand, Sasuke quicly made a Shaow Clone and focused chakra to his feet to try loosening the swamp's grip on them and his clone grabbed him and pulled him loose. Not a moment too soon too, for Naruto swung the ninjato in Sasuke's direction, and his own jutsu was sent right back at him, albeit a little smaller than before. Sasuke's clone wasted no time in throwing the original out of the way before dispelling. The dragon shaped flame simply sputtered out once it hit the wall.

"That… what was that?" Mei asked in shock. "How did he absorb that attack and turn it on the originator?"

"It's one of the features of that undersized katana," Kushina boasted. "It is not only well made with the highest quality chakra conducting materials, but Minato and I both added seals to it that allows it to absorb just about any chakra based jutsu that comes into contact with the blade, and then use it against the enemy."

"It still has drawbacks tough," Minato said. "While Arashikatta has those seals, they require a lot of chakra to activate due to the diversity of the jutsus that it will be called upon to absorb, more than is usually practical. In fact, it would only take a few uses to completely exhaust the average shinobi. Of course, with Naruto's reserves, it is the perfect weapon for him, though he still tries to simply avoid or block attacks when he can, unless he really wants to use an opponent's jutsu against them, though that is only practical with the more powerful ones, because the sword is not able to keep the chakra within it for very long and the techniques weaken as time passes before the user releases them, because in order for the user to be able to use the jutsus against the originator, we had to leave the seals slightly… open so the user could release the jutsus without destroying the seals. As a result, the jutsus chakra leaks out, and it completely fades after a few minutes if the user waits that long. As far as I know, this is the first time Naruto has used the power."

"I see…" Mei said thoughtfully. Even with the drawbacks, that sword is one that could rival the blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen if it was in the right hands.

Meanwhile, the battle became more heated as both combatants once again closed in on each other and their blades clashed, occasionally throwing a punch or a kick in. The crowd watched in awe at the speed and skill the two were displaying. What the hell were these two doing in the chunin exams? It felt like they were watching a fight for a jonin exam rather than chunin. Naruto took a kick to his side and flipped backwards and cast a few hand signs. "Earth Style: Earth Wall!" A large rock wall rose up between him and Sasuke, the latter of whom charged, and lightning chakra encased his had again.

"Chidori!" he shouted as he penetrated the wall, only to find that Naruto was not on the other side of it. Frantically looking around he spotted the blonde above him, holding a Hiraishin kunai, and realized that under the cover of the wall, the blonde had thrown the kunai up and teleported to it, so he was bove Sasuke when he broke through the wall.

"Earth Style: Rock Fist!" Naruto shouted as his arm was encased in rock and he punched at Sasuke as he came down. The Uchiha was just barely able to leap back in time to avoid the worst of the blow, though some rocks that were kicked up still nicked him. "Darn, almost had you there," Naruto said.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Sasuke replied.

_"That is probably enough…" _Orochimaru thought as he gave a meaningful look in the direction a particular ANBU in the stands, who nodded and cast a hand sign. _"Much more, and the risk of damage to my vessel may get more than I am willing to allow. It has been a very entertaining battle at least. I have chosen my next host well, kukukuku…"_

Naruto and Sasuke were just about to go at it again when a rain of feathers descended. "This your doing Naruto?" Sasuke frowned as he dispelled its influence on him, followed by Naruto and all others who recognized the genjutsu, including Itachi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Hayate, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Sakura, Neji, Kiba (though he had to be tipped off by Sakura's quick thinking), and all of Konoha's other jonin, ANBU and a few chunin. All others fell into a slumber.

"No, I suck at genjutsu remember?" Naruto replied. "It must be the snake's signal for the invasion!"

Sasuke nodded as he and Naruto both took their soldier pills and turned to face a wave of just under twenty Sound nin with orders to capture Sasuke. "Let's get started then!" Sasuke declared as his curse seal glowed orange and spread its flame like design across his body.

"Right!" Naruto made fifty Shadow Clones and they all cast hand seals. The Sound ninja immediately stopped their charge and cast some barrier ninjutsu in preparation for what was coming. "Wind Style! Wind Scattershot!"

"Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted as he added his flames to the mass tempest. With several barrier jutsus from the Sound ninja, along with about twenty feet of distance from the Naruto clones, they might have been able to repel the attack before, but once Sasuke had added his fireball to the assault, the incoming inferno was way too much for the Sound ninja, and their defenses were overpowered. End result: crispy fried punks.

"There's already enough aid here in the arena!" Naruto shouted to Sasuke as his Shadow Clones spread out. "We need to go help the village!" Sasuke nodded. "Here," Naruto tossed Sasuke a Hiraishin kunai. "If you need help from me, conduct some chakra into that, I made some modifications to the seal so it will allow one I have to respond to the call, and I,or at least a Shadow Clone or two will come to your aid."

Sasuke nodded and both overpowered genin split up.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru had attempted to take Minato hostage, but the blonde Hokage used Hiraishin when Orochimaru grabbed him, taking the snake and Kushina with him as they went. The Sound Four had shed their disguises and were about to join in the battle when Sakon and Ukon suddenly found themselves set upon by the Tsuchikage, and Jirobo and Tayuya where attacked by Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi. The group never even had the chance to question the betrayal of Iwa as Onoki used his Dust Style to vaporize Sakon, with Ukon being just barely able to escape on time, only to receive a Lightning Blade through the chest from the dog masked ANBU captain that had been meant for Kidomaru, allowing the spider like man to jump into the stands and join forces with other Sound ninja. Jirobo was killed painfully when he was hit by Kurotsuchi's Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu, which stuck to him and melted him in an agonizing way, slowly. Tayuya was luckier. Her neck got snapped instantly when Akatsuchi punched her with a rock encased fist.

"What's going on!?" Mei demanded with Ao and the other Kiri jonin getting into defensive positions next to her.

"Orochimaru planned an invasion of this village," Onoki replied as the ANBU captain went in pursuit of Kidomaru. "He tried to get Iwa and Suna on his side as well, but both of our nations decided to double cross him and support Konoha. The rest I can explain later, but for now, I suggest you three stay here and out of the conflict." Onoki then moved to the railing and flew over the battlefield, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi jumping into the thick of the battle.

"I suggest we follow their advice, Mizukage-sama," Ao said, to the agreement of his fellow Kiri ninja. "This is not our fight."

"Maybe not," Mei mused.

"W-what's going on?" Hinata asked as she took the food pill that Shikamaru had given her.

"We are under attack by the Hidden Sound Village it seems," Shikamaru said. "Troublesome. We need to stick together, that's our best shot of surviving. And we need to help fight these guys."

"Look out!" Kiba shouted and used his Tunneling Fang on a Sound ninja that tried to attack Hinata from behind with a kunai. Akamaru barked at Shikamaru, who tossed him a spare food pill. A second Sound ninja charged Hinata, who jumped back from the outstretched kunai. The other genin were then preoccupied when a group of Sound nin came after them, leaving Hinata to deal with her foe on her own. She activated her Byakugan and avoided the blows before she laced her palm with chakra and slapped it right into his chest. The man coughed up a lot of blood before he fell dead, leaving Hinata to stare at his empty eyes, and look in shock at the hand she used to kill her enemy. She had resolved to become stronger and do what was needed to protect the village and her friends, but nothing could have prepared her for the reality of seeing firsthand the life leave a person's eyes and realize that it was her hand that took that life.

Her stupor was so strong that she did not notice another enemy coming at her with a kunai aimed for her neck. "Lady Hinata!" Neji shouted as he tried to rush to her aid, though he knew he would not be in time. The Sound ninja smirked before a blast of sand struck his side, and he was thrown into the wall, the impact snapping his neck, killing him instantly.

More sand quickly dispatched the remaining Oto shinobi, and Gaara came up to the genin. "Are you alright?" he asked to all of them, though mostly to Hinata, who finally managed to come somewhat to her senses. Gaara looked at the body. "Was he your first kill?" he asked with a hint of sympathy in his voice. Hinata started shedding tears in response. "I see," he said. He looked around and saw his siblings and Baki joining the fight in the arena. "You are going to have to ignore your feelings on this. There is a battle going on now, and people **are** going to die, whether you wish it or not. Whether it is your enemies or you and your comrades is up to you. I am going to go help Namikaze-san," he said to the rest of the group. "I would take the one who beat my sister's advice and stay in the arena as a group. There are many other jonin here to back you up and you can watch out for each other." With that, Gaara's sand came out of his gourd and he stepped on it, using it as a flying platform to head in the direction the original Naruto went.

"Are you going to be fine, Hinata?" Saskura asked with some concern.

"I-I will make it, Sakura," the girl replied. "I need to get over this. If I cannot raise my hand against our enemies, more of our comrades will end up dead. I can't let that happen."

"Enough talking, here comes the next wave!" Shikamaru shouted and the genin prepared for another round.

….

"Stupid snake!" Han shouted as the giant snake summons struck out at him, and he dodged backwards. When the snake's head came back up, Han charged and, using the pressure of the steam his armor generated to enhance the blow, hit the beast with an uppercut that Tsunade could respect. Needless to say, this meant the snake was literally flung a good ways, despite its size. "Anyone else?" he asked as a group of Oto nin surrounded him. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said as they were engulfed in his steam, causing them all to shriek in agony as their skin was burned badly. "Told Roshi I didn't need any support," he chuckled as he hit another Oto nin in the midsection, mercifully holding off on the steam. The three Iwa nin that were with him developed tick marks at this. "No offense," Han said apologetically. "It's just that you could be giving backup to less capable members of our team."

They were about to respond to this when one was impaled from behind by what appeared to be a scorpion's tail in mechanical form, another was decapitated by a cloaked man with a sword and the third was torn apart by black tendrils from another cloaked man, this one with red clouds on his cloak. There was a fourth member of this group who was also cloaked like the one with a sword, though it was barely distinguishable that it was a woman under the cloak.

"Han of the Steam Armor," the cloaked woman said as the sword wielder and the one with the tail left, leaving the one with the tendrils and the woman to face the Gobi jinchuriki. "I am afraid that you will be coming with us."

"I don't think so," Han said as he got into a defensive fighting stance. "I don't know who you are, but you're messing with the wrong guy."

…..

Mizuki slowly slipped out of the Hokage's tower, the Forbidden Scroll under his arm **(A/N: Yeah, I know I forgot about him until now, but it makes sense that he would try to steal the scroll for Orochimaru during the invasion so I hope no one minds). **"Perfect," he muttered as he landed on the streets. "Now I just have to make sure to slip out in the chaos and…"

"Going someplace?" a voice asked the traitorous chunin from behind and leaking killing intent. Mizuki paled and turned around to see the sadistic form of Zabuza Momochi. "Looks like I get to have some fun with you…" Zabuza laughed.

…..

"Give it up Orochimaru," Minato said to the snake as he pulled the Kazekage's face off of his own. "We knew of your invasion from the beginning, and your allies have betrayed you. You have lost before you even started."

"Kukukuku, how little you know, Minato," Orochimaru said as he drew his Sword of Kusanagi from his mouth, to Kushina's disgust. "Even if the village is still standing when the invasion is over, killing you, the greatest of the Hokage, will reduce the Will of fire to nothing as the villager's lose their morale. And what I am after is more than the destruction of the Hidden Leaf."

"We know full well what you are after you snake," Kushina snarled as her chakra chains came out of her body and lashed towards Orochimaru, who dashed to the side and deflected the ones that stayed with him with his blade. "And I will tell you now, you are not going to get a hold of Mikoto's son!"

"Kukukuku… it seems that you both need a demonstration of my power…" Orochimaru said as his eyes closed. "Miraiyochigan!"

Minato and Kushina's eyes narrowed as Orochimaru's snapped open, the whites having become crimson, the pupils maroon, and golden x's had taken the place of his slit irises.

"What… what kind of dojutsu is that?" Kushina asked.

"I am not sure," Minato replied as he took out one of his kunai. "But be ready for anything."

….

Sasuke cut down several more shinobi as he ran through the streets of Konoha, before he heard a bone-chilling voice behind him. "It has been a little while, Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke whipped around to see a cloaked figure sitting casually on a roof, his empty right sleeve flapping in the wind.

"I know you…" Sasuke growled and he drew his sword.

….

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, driving the attack into the top of one of the larger snakes' head. The beast was instantly killed as its skull shattered. Another snake tried to retaliate by attacking the blonde from behind, but a coil of sand wrapped around its neck and compressed, decapitating it. "I could have gotten that myself Gaara," Naruto said as he jumped into the mouth of the final snake summons in that area as it struck at him and he blew its head up by forming a Giant Rasengan in the mouth.

"I did not think you would complain if I were to expedite things a little," Gaara replied.

"Thanks anyway," Naruto said as they looked around to find another area they could help. Their search was cut short when a cloaked figure with a sword strapped to his back materialized behind Gaara. A shield of sand sprung up, but did nothing to stop the punch the figure threw at the back of Gaara's head. The fist connected with a sickening crunch as the Sand Armor gave way, and Gaara fell to the ground unconscious.

"Gaara!" Naruto shouted as he dashed for the man who slung Gaara over his shoulder and jumped the wall the snakes partially destroyed. "Oh, no you don't! Get back here you bastard!" Naruto bellowed as he followed in pursuit.

**"Be careful Naruto," **Kurama growled.** "That cloak is the same as the one the man who was after you before wore. If they are after the same goal, then you could well be running into a trap."**

_"You think I don't know that?! I am not letting this one take Gaara!"_

_"Perfect, just keep following me Kyuubi container," _the cloaked man thought with a smirk. _"With no one else to interfere, I will have no problems claiming two of the four jinchuriki."_

**A/N: Who's looking forward to next chapter? I will be titling it, Unforgivable! Sasuke's Decision! (Please read the chapter before you end up rage quitting this story, you may be surprised if you jumped to conclusions) **

**We will finally get a chance to see Ceilia fight next time as well. We will also get to see the abilities of Raizen's two other members of his inner circle, and Naruto and Gaara are going up against the most dangerous one! Can they hope to survive?**

**Also, Minato and Kushina will struggle against Orochimaru and his new dojutsu! What sort of powers did he gain from the follower of Raizen whose body he stole? Next chapter will be all that can tell that detail…**

**To answer Anon's question, I am asking you to get an account so we can discuss more in depth the direction the story takes and so I can get your reviews sooner. I do not want to have to use Author Notes to answer everyone's questions either. This goes for everyone else who reviews without an account, such as Guest, and Guest 777.**

**Hey, you know the button down there, the one that says post a review? Please do as it asks… it has my family…**


	22. 21: Unforgivable! Sasuke's Decision!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I hit 150 reviews, one chapter later than I wanted, but oh well…**

**It is finally here, the chapter where Sasuke gets his memories back. What will he do? And Ceilia will fight against the woman who is one of Raizen's servants, while we learn a small detail about Felix. The dojutsu Orochimaru uses will also be revealed completely. How will Minato and Kushina fare?**

**Chapter 21: Unforgivable! Sasuke's Decision!**

"Closer, closer…"Han muttered as the large black beast with the mask approached while he retreated, faking an injured arm as he went to lure the thing in. "Now!" he dashed under the creature's wind attacks and slammed a steam enhanced punch into the mask, shattering it.

Kakuzu cursed. "That was the second of my hearts you destroyed, you bastard! And do you realize that wind is the hardest element to acquire?! Now I have to find a wind user, after I have replaced my water heart!"

"Quit your whining Kakuzu," the woman with him replied as she extended her arm at Han. And by extended, I mean it literally stretched to an impossible length to try to punch Han, who dodged and brought his fist down on the outstretched appendage, breaking it off with the force of the blow, but the severed part of the arm simply stretched back to the stump and reattached itself. So far, nothing Han had done to the woman had done permanent damage, except to her cloak, which had lost its hood and part of the right sleeve, showing that her hair was a dark yellow color and her eyes were a solid black.

"I really hate that power of yours," Han snarled as he rushed her, adding speed to his charge with his steam and ramming a punch to her gut, which literally punched through her. When Han removed his fist, the hole mended itself, filling in. "And the folks at home call me a freak."

"He's right about you being a freak you know Jess," Kakuzu deadpanned as he launched more tendrils at Han, who burned them away with his steam. "How else could you have survived being my partner for so long?"

"Shut up," Jess replied as one of her elastic legs whipped into Han's gut, knocking him back.

…..

In the clearing outside of the village that Minato had taken his wife and opponent, the chains Kushina brought to bear continually whipped at Orochimaru, who dodged before whipping a kick at what seemed to be thin air, but Minato had Hiraishinned to the spot the instant Orochimaru's foot met it, resulting in him being thrown with the wind knocked out of him and he lost the Rasengan he had ready to hit the snake with.

_"Damn, that is the third time he has managed to hit me like that. It's like he knows where I am going to be before even I do even with my Hiraishin seals being hidden, but that can't be right, he barely avoided a few hits I tried to get him with, like his dodges were last minute…" _Minato mused. _"It's almost as if he knows at some times where I am going to be, but the rest of the time, he has to react to my attacks just like everyone else."_

Once again, Orochimaru avoided a few of the chain whips Kushina sent at him before he charged her, his sword prepared to run her through, and she drew her own katana to engage in a brief battle of kenjutsu, but all of her attacks were parried as though he knew her attacks before she did. Seven seconds after it started, Kushina's sword went flying and her chains were too slow to prevent Orochimaru's sword from slashing her diagonally across her chest before she was able to jump back to escape further harm.

Minato quickly made a few Shadow clones and they all Hiraishined to different positions around Orochimaru with a Rasengan in hand. The clones were quickly dispatched by snakes Orochimaru summoned instantly from his sleeves and mouth, although one of them managed to strike his left arm at the elbow and tear it off with the Rasengan before the Snake managed to dispel that one too. He backed off and deflected more Hiraishin kunai the original Minato threw at him with his blade. For a moment, Orochimaru just stood there before a pair of hands came from his mouth.

Minato and Kushina looked in both disgust and horror as Orochimaru "shed his skin," his left arm good as new. "You are not even human anymore, are you…," Kushina growled as the wound on her chest closed, thanks to her Uzumaki healing factor. "I don't know what you are."

"Kukukuku… you are correct, I am not human…," Orochimaru chuckled. "I have become more than human, I am a god!"

"Yeah, well this god is about to set a new precedent for his kind by dying," Kushina growled as she pulled out a kunai with an exploding tag attached and threw it. Orochimaru looked unconcerned and was about to simply dodge when Minato noticed the x's that formed the irises of his eyes flashed momentarily and the snake changed tactics at that moment.

"Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!" he shouted and the gate sprung up between him and the exploding kunai just as Kushina finished her hand signs.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" she shouted and over a hundred copies of the exploding kunai spread out, but the ones that would have hit Orochimaru were repelled by the gate while the others flew right on by.

_"If he had tried to just dodge that, he would have gotten hit by at least a few of the tags once they were replicated,"_ Minato pondered._ "He actually was going to dodge, it looked like, but then his eyes flashed. I almost thought that I imagined it when I saw it, but when he did exactly what he needed to do to avoid damage at the same time I thought I saw that flash… it can't be a coincidence. It's clear now. The reason he seems able to predict attacks at times is because of those eyes, but why not all the time? In any case… those eyes are clearly not from this world, or I would have at least heard of them somewhere before, unless it's a new Kekkei Genkai, but I somehow think that…"_

"Now then, let's make things a little more interesting shall we?" Orochimaru asked as he clapped his palms together. "Summoning Jutsu: Edo Tensei!" Two coffins came from the ground at this.

"Not that jutsu…" Minato cursed. The coffins opened and two figures stepped from them. The Shodaime Hokage and the Nidaime Hokage stood before the Yondaime Hokage and his wife.

"Now then, let's get to it, shall we?" Orochimaru asked as he slid a kunai with some sort of tags attached to them into the back of each of the former Hokage's heads, taking full control of them.

"Kushina, I need you to make a Shadow Clone," Minato said as he himself did so. Confused, Kushina did as Minato asked and his clone grabbed hers and Hiraishinned them away.

"Minato, what are you," Kushina started.

"Listen, I can't let Orochimaru know what I am up to, so I won't explain. You will have to wait for your clone to dispel," Minato explained and Kushina nodded as the two prepared to face their undead and immortal opponents.

…..

"What are you thinking, Minato?" Kushina's clone asked as they dashed through the streets avoiding fights as they went.

Minato's clone quickly explained his deductions about the dojutsu that Orochimaru was using. "I somehow doubt that it was from this world, so it probably came from the Elder Dimension. If that is the case, then Felix ought to know a thing or two about it, we just need to find him and ask him. Then once we dispel, our originals will be able to counter whatever the snake is doing."

….

"You are the punk who came after Naruto," Sasuke growled his recognition at the cloaked man.

"Very good Sasuke," the cloaked man said and he jumped down to the streets and lowered his hood. "Though I have yet to tell you my name, you at least remember my actions. I applaud your fine memory."

"Oh really?" Sasuke smirked. "Because you seem to be short a hand for that." The man scowled at this, remembering the loss of his right arm vividly.

"Funny," he said with sarcasm before calming. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Drek Kuro-Ko. And now that my introduction is out of the way, I believe that it is time for me to get acquainted with the true you."

"No thanks," Sasuke snarled as the curse mark glowed and fully spread to his body and he entered Second State. "The real me is right here! And he's not going anywhere!"

"You won't say that once your memories have returned," Drek responded and he dashed forward while Sasuke was still channeling the curse mark's power, and knocked the Hiraishin kunai out of Sasuke's hand before the latter could use it to call for Naruto's aid. "None of that now, we can't have anyone interfering with this session now can we?"

Sasuke snarled as he jumped back before his enemy could grab his head. The curse mark's power finished setting in. Sasuke's new appearnance in Second State was pretty much the same as last time, only his lips were no longer a darker shade than the rest of his skin, removing the worst of the drag queen part of the original look, and instead of grotesque webbed hands, the wings that came from his shoulders were more like those of a dragon. "Last time, I was barely able to scratch you, without this" Sasuke said, opening his eyes to show Drek the six point stars of his Mangekyo Sharingan. "But this time, I won't need to waste any of my vision." His eyes reverted to the three tomoe Sharingan.

"You will regret saying that," Drek said as his exposed skin went into his black steel form, and he charged Sasuke.

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted and blasted Drek dead on with the compressed dragon shaped flames. Drek emerged from the blast, his entire cloak burned off from the waist up, and he was glowing a faint red from the flames heating up the metal he was made of when he used his ability. He threw a punch at Sasuke who took flight with his wings and dodged, already casting new hand signs. "Water Style: Water Bullets!" Five balls of water were launched out of Sasuke's mouth in rapid succession, and Drek smoothly dodged them all.

_"I see, he's trying to weaken my defense by heating and cooling the black steel again," _Drek mused as he jumped after Sasuke and kicked him in the cheek to send him into a building headfirst. _"Only this time, he is using more intense flames to heat me more than before, so the steel will be made a little weaker than he managed before. Not only that, but with the curse seal increasing the potency of his lightning style attacks, his Chidori would be able to do a lot more damage to me than last time. I have to wrap this up before he gets the chance."_

Drek ran through the rubble of the building in time to see Sasuke rise and grab the Uchiha's head before the boy could respond. "It's over. Pulse-," Drek was cut off when Sasuke exploded into water, drenching Drek and causing him to steam as the water evaporated. "A Water Clone!" he hissed. "I fell for it!" He turned to see Sasuke run at Drek with a darkened Chidori in his left arm and thrust it forward. With =out the time to dodge completely, Drek grabbed the lightning attack and diverted it, getting his hand bloody in the process as the jutsu cut into his palm. He them jumped back as Sasuke followed up with a thrust at Drek's chest with his sword, the tip connecting and sinking in a few centimeters. Drek skidded backwards before he cast a few one-handed signs. "Earth Style: Boulder Barrage Jutsu!" At least thirty large rocks, about twice the size of a human head each, rose from the ground to hover in front of Drek before launching themselves at Sasuke at high speeds.

Sasuke jumped back and avoided most of the rocks, cutting a couple in half before one slammed right into his gut causing him to cough up blood before he was blasted through another house. Drek smirked before three Sound ninja leapt at Sasuke, intent on capturing him, but Drek attacked them, killing all three in seconds. "Uh uh uh, Sasuke is mine to toy with," he said as Sasuke rose shakily.

_"Damn, it looks like I will be needing Mangekyo Sharingan after all," _Sasuke cursed as his eyes took on the shape of his enhanced dojutsu. "All right then," Sasuke said and his left eye bled and he winced. Drek hastily jumped to the side as the black flames of the Amaterasu sprang into being. "He dodged it?" Sasuke gasped. "How could he be that fast!?" Drek once again charged and Sasuke hurriedly cried, "Susanoo!"

The purple deity sprung into being in time to take the force of the blow Drek had aimed for the raven hair, though the aura ended up cracked from the blow. "Shit!" Drek cursed as the being loaded its crossbow and he leapt back in time to only get grazed in the side by it. Against most people, this would still be a fatal blow, but the black steel that Drek was made of was able to turn it a little so only a little flesh was torn from his side. Drek gritted his teeth and avoided another bolt.

….

"Now that that is done…" Zabuza mused as he tossed the trussed up (and beaten to a pulp) Mizuki into a building to be arrested after the invasion. "I had better go and help out with the fight." Just as he said that, another building he was next to was leveled as a man with red and a beard was thrown through it and hit a wall next to Zabuza. "You all right?" the swordsman asked as the old man got up groaning, after seeing that he was not an enemy.

"I am getting on in years and got blasted through several buildings at once. What the hell do you think?" Roshi asked as he got up with a groan.

"Well well, we meet again Zabuza," Kisame said as he came though the dust kicked up by the collapsed buildings, followed by Sasori. "But why don't you be an old friend and step away from the jinchuriki for us."

"If you mean this old man, I don't think so Kisame," Zabuza growled as he gripped his blade with both hands. "I have already let you scumbags have your way with one jinchuriki, and he was my friend. You will pay for what you did to Yagura!"

"Hmm, someone who would befriend a jinchuriki?" Roshi said as he gingerly got up. "Well I suppose I don't mind fighting alongside you if that's the case, especially because I would like to remain a free man."

"Heh, fine, I got no problems killing you," Kisame said, pointing Samehada at Zabuza.

…

"That all you got?" Felix demanded his unsatisfactory foe as he launched one of his signature slashes at the Oto jonin, cutting him in half.

"Quit hogging the fun already Felix!" Ceilia demanded as she disposed of an enemy genin with simple taijutsu.

"Felix!" a familiar voice shouted and Minato and Kushina landed next to him.

"Minato?" Felix asked in confusion. "I thought you two were fighting Orochimaru."

"We are, we are just clones, listen we need to ask you something." Minato quickly explained about the dojutsu Orochimaru had, and Felix was thoughtfully scratching his chin when the blonde had finished.

"That sounds like the Miraiyochigan, or the Future Sight eyes." Minato's and Kushina's eyes widened at this piece of information. "That is indeed a Kekkei Genkai of the Elder Dimension, belonging to the Shenken-Sha clan (Seer). But now I can't help but wonder how Orochimaru got it."

"We can work that out later, the question is, how do we beat it?" Minato demanded.

"Well, at any point it is activated, it can instantly give the user a full ten seconds vision of future events, that is as far as it goes, making it difficult to catch one of the wielders off guard in battle. One of the upsides is that it does not consume much chakra. But it has a weakness… it can only be used every twenty seconds, which means that when it is used, the wielder will see ten seconds into the future, but those ten seconds later, he will have to fight blind for the next ten. If you can figure out when he is using it, I advise you to count to ten before you implement any plans, because that will be the time to strike."

Minato nodded in thanks before he and Kushina dispelled. Ceilia turned to Felix and said, "Why don't you check the rest of the battlefield, see where we are needed most?"

Felix nodded and his eyes became slit as he entered Sage Mode. "Let's see…" he quickly took in all of the chakras over the village before he frowned. "Ceilia, go that way," Felix said with an edge in his voice that shocked Ceilia. He normally did not let any anger show in any way, but she noticed that there was something feral in his eyes, a long buried hatred.

"Felix what's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," he lied unconvincingly. "But there is a jinchuriki in danger that way, and something that I need to take care of. Now go!"

Ceilia hesitated, but Felix outranked her in both this world and their own, so she reluctantly nodded and dashed off. Felix took a different direction as his chakra flared through Elemental Infinity. _"I never expected to see you again Drakmus…" _he snarled in his mind as he cut his way through several Oto nin without even looking.

…

"This jutsu is getting really old, really fast!" Kushina said as she watched the Nidaime Hokage's head regenerate from being cut off by her katana. "How do we beat it?"

"I may have an idea that will tip the scales," Minato said, Hiraishinning to another spot to avoid one of the Shodaime's wood stlye attacks. "But I am going to need you to occupy these two so I can deal with Orochimaru."

"You got it," Kushina said and her eyes turned crimson red with slits and a one tail cloak enveloped her body. "Don't take too long, I hate using this chakra, it burns," she continued as she got down on all fours and leaped at the Shodaime, using a chakra chain and her cloak tail to hamper the Nidaime. Minato went straight for Orochimaru.

…..

_"This should be far enough," _the cloaked man thought as he tossed Gaara aside and turned to face Naruto, who had made a Shadow Clone as they had gone, had it stay still while he continued the pursuit and dispel, putting him in Sage Mode. He already had his trademark Rasenshuriken formed and he threw it at the figure now that he no longer had to worry about hitting Gaara.

The man did not even try to dodge, instead extending his hand and catching the Rasenshuriken and it actually _stopped_. It grinded against his right hand and expanded, but it was forced away and it dissipated.

Naruto looked in shock as he watched his attack fail, and saw that the man's right hand had turned into a dragon's clawed one, the scales pure black, though for some reason, there was also a dark grey fur coming out from between the scales of the hand and finger joints. "Who… and what are you?" Naruto demanded as the hand returned to normal and the man lowered his hood with the other one. He could have been an Uchiha with his dark hair that ran smoothly down to his shoulders and solid black eyes.

"Hmm, I suppose it cannot hurt to give you my name, since you will be my prisoner soon," the man said in a thoughtful, yet mocking tone. "I am called Drakmus. I have no clan name, and I do not desire one. I am the right hand man of Lord Raizen." He finished as he flared his killing intent at Naruto, who was almost staggered by the sheer weight of it. It was far worse than anything Orochimaru could have ever come up with.

**"Be careful Naruto!" **Kurama shouted with a rare hint of fear, as they watched the man draw his solid black blade left handed.** "This man… I can sense a chakra that is on the same level as my own!"**

Naruto could only gulp as he drew Arashikatta.

…

"About time we managed to bring this guy down," Kakuzu said over the groaning form of Han, whose armor had been almost completely destroyed. "Three of my hearts, gone! Do you realize how hard it is to find a Wind one?"

"It's worth it isn't it?" Jess asked as Kakuzu slung Han over his shoulder. "One down, eight to go. And I know for sure that Drakmus will have at least one more for us once this is over, he has never yet failed, unlike Drek."

"Drakmus?" Ceilia asked as she leapt onto the scene, surprised to hear that name. _"If that's what Felix sensed, then it is no wonder he ran off like that… shit, I have to help him, but I can't just abandon that jinchuriki…" _she was thinking as she saw Kakuzu with Han.

"Well, it seems as though we have an unwanted guest in our midst," Jess said with a small smile. "Kakuzu, would you be so kind as to take our prize and go? The priority was his capture after all, and you are down three hearts."

"Humph," Kakuzu said though he agreed and he dashed to get out of the village."

"Hold on a second!" Ceilia shouted as she tried to follow, but Jess's arm stretched to bar her way.

"Not so fast, you get to play with me first," Jess said.

"Fine," Ceilia said as she tossed aside her kimono, showing that she wore an outfit similar to what Ino did, only this outfit was a dark red color. Her now exposed skin, that being her arms, lower legs, and midriff had a large variety of seals drawn on them. _"I don't know what that ability she showed is, I don't think it is an old one, otherwise I would have at least heard of it. But I do know that I should not hold back, if for no other reason than to wrap this up quick."_

"A fuinjutsu specialist huh?" Jess said as she watched Ceilia release two seals on her wrists, conjuring twin curved bladed weapons, the hilts of which were made to be gripped in a manner that put the blades parallel to her arms, and on the outside of them, the tips jus t going past her elbows. Jess immediately threw an extended punch at Ceilia, who move incredibly fast and cut the hand off, only to watch with a frown as the hand reattached itself.

"Well, that is one of the cheapest things I ever saw," Ceilia said as she bit her thumb and drew it across the opposite forearm, and a blast of lightning was released from the seal, impaling and shocking Jess. The woman simply laughed as she once again regenerated from the damage, causing Ceilia to curse. "I need to figure out how to beat this," she muttered, dodging several more attacks from her elastic opponent. "I have no choice, though this is going to drain my reserves fast in a battle…" she grabbed her headband and yanked it off.

…..

Sasuke was on his knees, clutching his head and in a cold sweat. Drek stood over him. It had not been easy using the Pulse Imprint Jutsu on Sasuke. The boy had a solid defense with his Susanoo, even coating it in Amaterasu flames at one point to dissuade Drek from attacking. However, the man's opportunity had come when the Susanoo faded, and Sasuke had clutched his eyes in agony, the Mangekyo exerting its toll. With that, Drek had dashed in and gripped the back of the Uchiha's head. Sasuke had struggled, but Drek cast the jutsu before he had gotten loose.

"Do you see now?" Drek asked Sasuke, who was panting. "Your so called friends and family have been manipulating you this whole time, never telling you who you were, never trusting you… and with all the pain they caused you in the last time, how can you trust them now?"

"Unforgivable," Sasuke muttered as he rose again.

"Yes, it is unforgivable isn't it? But you can have your vengeance now, Lord Raizen will gladly accept you within his ranks…"

"No," Sasuke said and created a Shadow Clone, causing Drek's eyes to narrow. "That's not what's unforgivable…" he turned to Drek and formed a Rasengan, and his clone started weaving his hands over it, and Drek's eyes widened. "What I cannot forgive…" Sasuke rose the completed jutsu over his head. It was a yellow Rasengan with a spinning spear made of lightning extended from the sphere and pointing right at Drek. "Is that you tried to turn me against my comrades! Lightning Style: Rasenlance!"

**A/N: So now we know that Sasuke is going to be a good guy for this story. Good Sasuke fans, rejoice! Bad Sasuke fans, I won't hold it against you is you just rage quit on me, just don't send any flames at me on the way out! Please?**

**Next chapter, Sasuke finishes his battle with Drek, and we learn more about Drakmus, the greatest servant of Raizen, while Naruto struggles against him. What is the story behind him? And how is he related to Felix?**

**The battle with Orochimaru also comes to a conclusion (I hope, but I already have a lot of things planned for next chapter!**

**So read, and review! I am eager to hear everyone's thoughts on this chapter in particular, it's one of the ones I have wanted to write for a while now.**


	23. Chapter 22: A Struggle of Demons!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Good afternoon everyone (dodges a multitude of projectiles from a mob of Bad Sasuke fans). Hey, I told you guys not to flame me, and I would also appreciate you not attacking me (frantically dodges twice as many as before). And where the hell did you with the red hair in the center of you guys get a flamethrower? And is that a BAZOOKA? Someone please call the SWAT team! **

**Several beatings later…**

**Me: Whew, thanks a lot Naruto, those clones of yours really help with crowd control.**

**Naruto: My pleasure. It's the least I can do after you made Sasuke stay my friend. Just don't kill him off like that stunt you pulled in the prologue, okay? (Flares killing intent)**

**Me: …..D-duly noted!**

**Naruto: Thank you! Glad we have an understanding!**

**Me: Whew! Anyways… **

**Great reception to last chapter from all of you who reviewed, and I got several of them! 13 reviews in the last chapter! I must have struck gold there, that is a new record for me! **

**All right, now we continue with some of the major fights in this chapter, and Sasuke finishes his conflict with Drek. Naruto meanwhile begins a serious struggle against who will be one of his greatest enemies in this story. Can Felix make it in time to help him?**

**Chapter 22: A Struggle of Demons!**

"What are you saying!?" Drek shouted at Sasuke, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Do you truly intend to forgive those miserable wretches that made you suffer? They lied to you, kept you from the truth! All to manipulate you into the Sasuke they wanted you to be! Or do you think that what you saw is just a genjutsu?"

"No," Sasuke stated as the seal once again spread to his body, invoking his Second State, and his Shadow Clone disappeared. "I know that those are real memories you woke up, otherwise they would not have awakened my Mangekyo Sharingan the first time you tried to force them on me." Sasuke let this sink in before he continued. "But regardless of the fact that they hid them from me, I know why they did, and I actually agree with them. They tried to protect me from the pain my brother put me through, and from myself, because I had shown in the past that I could not be trusted to control my hatred. No, they were not manipulating me. You were the one who tried to manipulate me."

"But what about the villagers? Surely you can't forgive them, not for the discrimination they showed the Uchiha clan, or the life they gave the one you call your friend."

"Maybe not," Sasuke admitted, causing Drek to relax a little. "But," Sasuke continued. "It is the villagers from the future past that I cannot forgive for that. The villagers in this time do still hate Naruto and the Uchiha, but we are far from the point this time we cannot forgive them. In the past, Naruto has already shown that he could change the way people viewed him. And I intend to change the way the villagers view the Uchiha clan. For that, I will become Hokage if I have to! Whatever it takes, I will restore the honor of my clan in the eyes of the village, the honor that Madara and my father stole from us!"

"I don't get you. Why should a clan like the Uchiha, and a person like yourself care how others view you? The fact that they dare to step on you at all should warrant their destruction! They do not deserve the chance to be redeemed in the eyes of the Uchiha!"

"You're wrong. Whatever the faults of the villagers, they are still considered precious to Itachi, Mother… and Naruto! And for me, that alone is reason enough for me to protect this village! No matter how harshly the village treats the clan, we must remember the sacrifices that were made to create this village, and the sacrifices that were made to protect it."

"And you call yourself an Uchiha," Drek said as he spit at his feet. "Fine, I shall oblige your wish to end your pathetic existence. And if the Uchiha themselves refuse to return the hatred they were shown, they will be destroyed as well by my master. Their honor will always be tarnished now!" Drek began casting one handed signs.

"The honor of the Uchiha will never die this time, not while I am a part of the clan! And Konoha is my home!" Sasuke declared and rushed Drek, who abandoned his signs to jump out of the path of the Rasenlance that was still in the hands of his foe. Sasuke grinned as the Susanoo once again sprtang to life around him. He then threw the Rasenlance at Drek, who was in midair. Drek's eyes widened at the fact that Sasuke could throw an elemental Rasengan without knowing Sage Mode, before realizing that it must be the Second State curse mark having the same effect for the use of the technique.

Desperately, Drek forced a large amount of chakra out of his body to propel himself back towards the ground, out of the path of the Rasenlance, and focused his chakra to where he expected Sasuke to hit him with the arrows of his Susanoo. Sasuke merely smirked as the Susanoo fired, not at Drek, but at the Rasenlance. The ethereal arrow hit one end of the lightning jutsu, and the Rasenlance was knocked on a new course, right back at Drek, who screamed in mortal terror. The Rasenlance drilled right through the chakra shield that would have slowed the Susanoo arrow, and struck Drek right in the chest the man's screams were cut off by a gurgle as the lightning spear impaled him through the chest. He was dead before the technique carried him into the ground, blasting out a deep crater as it went.

"I still hate the ones who caused my loved ones pain," Sasuke said to the corpse that had been his foe. "But I am no longer weak enough to let that hatred rule me. May I never see your face again." With that, Sasuke turned and strode away, massaging his eyes as he went.

….

Both Naruto and Drakmus stared intensely at each other their blades pointed at the other. Drakmus moved first, rushing forward so fast that Naruto was barely able to get Arashikatta up in time to prevent his head from being cut off. Drakmus then snapped a kick that caught Naruto in the chest, easily cracking a few ribs and launching the boy into a tree hard enough to break all the way through its trunk.

Naruto rose somewhat shakily before spitting out some blood and launching a Gale Slash at Drakmus, who simply cut it in half with a swipe of his sword. Naruto immediately followed up with several Hiraishin kunai, which Drakmus deflected effortlessly, and Naruto made over a hundred Shadow Clones, who put a Rasengan in each of their hands and Hiraishinned to the deflected kunai and charged Drakmus from all sides. What followed was a wild sequence of parries, dodges and simply dispelling clones before they could hit him delivered by Drakmus. Within a minute, Drakmus had beaten almost all of the clones before he saw another Rasenshuriken thrown at him. He responded by extending his right hand again to catch the jutsu, converting it into its freakish dragon claw form once again. The Rasenshuriken impacted his hand, but then turned into a clone of Naruto, who grabbed Drakmus's hand and using Sage Mode enhanced strength, he pulled his opponent's arm away from his body, in time for a Solid Rasenshuriken to be thrown at Drakmus.

Drakmus was about to use his sword to cut the two element Rasengan in half, but another Shadow Clone managed to grab his arm to prevent the man from doing so. Drakmus roared and flung the clones away with brute strength, but it was too late. The solid Rasenshuriken blasted right into his gut and launched him back, the black sword flying from his hand. The Solid Rasenshuriken exploded twenty feet away from where it originally hit.

"Gotcha," Naruto panted and he turned towards where Gaara had been tossed aside. He jumped to the branch the Icibi container lay, and was just about to pick him up, when a solid impact to his face blasted him though another thick tree trunk.

"Play time is over, brat," Drakmus snarled from next to Gaara. The front of his cloak had been completely shredded by Naruto's attack, and his chest was bloodied. "And just so you don't get any ideas about taking your friend and running…" Drakmus cast 4 hand signs. "Hellfire Style: Damnation Prison Dome."

Naruto struggled to his feet, dispelling a spare clone he had set up to reenter Sage Mode, and watched in horror as a sphere of flames that were so dark that black would be an inadequate color to call them surrounded Gaara. The flames clearly put the Amaterasu to shame, just looking at them seemed to draw forth despair from the depths of Naruto's heart, like he was being pulled into a never ending abyss, and Naruto could feel the intensity of the heat the fire gave off from where he was, a good thirty four feet away from the flames. It was like his skin was going to peel off.

Hellfire… a fitting name for such a terrifying power. And if the heat could be felt this far away…

"Gaara!" Naruto shouted as he realized just how much heat should be within the dome Drakmus had imprisoned Gaara within.

"Do not worry," Drakmus said to Naruto, who was terrified to see that Drakmus's eyes had gone the same abyssal shade as his fire where the whites should have been, and the pupils had gone to a dark grey with the irises becoming horizontal slits that were scarlet. "The flames only burn what I want them to. He will not be burned to a crisp in there unless I desire it. Of course, you should be worried about yourself right now…" With that, Drakmus began a horrifying metamorphosis. His face began to elongate, and an extra set of arms burst out of his shoulders, before turning into the arms of a black humanoid dragon, followed by his original arms taking the same form. Another four appendages burst out of his back, and took the shape of wings, the outer edge of the bone that supported the membranes jutting out of the scales in an edge that Naruto had no doubt was as sharp as a blade. Three tails flowed out of the man's tailbone, all of them covered in spines that could easily inflict fatal injuries to an enemy. His shoes were shredded when his feet took the form of dragonic ones. Drakmus went down on all sixes, so to speak, and his transformation was complete.

What now stood before Naruto was a complete abomination. Drakmus's face was now that of some kind of bastardized mix between a wolf's muzzle and a dragon head, with the dark grey fur coming out of the cheeks. The rest of his body was pretty much a humanoid dragon, with the fur coming from nearly all of his joints. His size had nearly doubled.

Naruto very nearly froze as the beast's killing intent hit him full force. Drakmus then flew right at Naruto in a speed that the blonde could barely trace, even with Sage Mode. Naruto barely managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid a blow from one of his enemy's arms, and raised Arashikatta up to block a lash from one of the tails, and got launched into another tree. Drakmus turned to Naruto and fired a ball of that Hellfire at the boy from his mouth. Naruto thrust out Arashikatta and managed to absorb the fire into the blade. Then it shattered.

Naruto gaped at the now useless hilt of his weapon, as the Hellfire was released from the shards consumed them. Growling he made a hundred clones again, and they all threw Hiraishin kunai at Drakmus, and used the power to surround him, with Rasengans once again. Drakmus moved much quicker than before and disposed of all of the clones within ten seconds, only for the real Naruto to burst out of the ground beneath him, and slam a Rasengan into the monster's gut, turing it into a Giant Rasengan in the process. Drackmus growled in irritation as he was thrown upwards, using his wings to right himself, and he flipped forward and slammed one of his tails into Naruto, impaling him through the torso on three spines. Naruto then turned into a log, having used the Substitution Jutsu, and Drakmus looked up in time to see about twenty Narutos in Sage Mode, all of them with Giant Rasengans. "Giant Rasen Tarengan!" They all shouted as the attacks slammed into Drakmus full force. The monster growled and took all the hits. He was about to retaliate, but his limbs were suddenly bound down by chakra chains that came from all of the clones and Naruto.

"Heh, glad I can use Mom's chakra chains," Naruto said as he channeled both Sage energy and Kurama's chakra into two Solid Rasenshurikens, one in each hand with two clones on each side to give him the required elemental chakra, before throwing them at Drakmus, one after the other hitting full force into the opponent, and exploding. Naruto then fell to his knees, starting to suffer from severe chakra exhaustion.

"Ha ha ha…" Drakmus said as he got up, the dust clearing as he did. "I am impressed that your attacks were actually able to hurt me a little in this form." Naruto's blood froze as he saw that all he had done was slightly bloody his enemy where his attacks had hit.

"No way… those attacks had all the chakra I could put into them!" Naruto shouted.

"That only shows just how far apart we are, if this is the extent of your strength." Drakmus prepared to leap at the blonde again. "Is it safe to say, that you are running out of ideas?" Naruto paled and cursed mentally. This guy… he was unreal…

….

Kakashi ran though the streets of Konoha after his quarry, who was not making this an easy chase. The silver haired ANBU had already lost his dog mask and had to use his Lightning Blade twice to cut the guy's webs as he went. He stopped and looked around at the buildings, seemingly unaware of the Kidomaru in his Second State in one of the buildings behind him, a little to his right, and with an arrow prepped to shoot. "Die!" Kidomaru said as he released the deadly missile, and it flew straight for Kakashi.

However, Kidomaru was surprised when Kakashi whipped around, his Sharingan having changed its design to that of a three point shuriken, and blood flowed from the eye as the space around the arrow distorted and the arrow vanished, only to reappear in the air behind Kidomaru, who never saw his own death coming as he was impaled by his own attack.

"Good," Kakashi panted in exhaustion. "That's the last of Orochimaru's elite." He rose and staggered slightly, before he took a food pill. "I had better try to find another place to help."

….

"Impressive that you survived the transplantation process of the Tamashi Kensaku Me," Jess said as Ceilia dodges another blow from her elastic arm. "But it does not matter. This ability of mine is one of the greatest my master's labs have to offer. Through these modifications, I can control my cellular structure at will, and it does not even cost much chakra to do. It is almost as natural to me as breathing. Your transplant eats at your chakra too fast to be practical against me."

Ceilia only responded by drawing her blood across a seal on her midriff, and her body was encased in a pink chakra, and her speed shot up, allowing her to dash in close to Jess, and kick the woman in the chest so hard that pieces of the woman tore their way out of the back of her cloak as they flew free.

"Not bad, a seal that holds a large amount of chakra that gives your speed and strength a boost for a minute or two," Jess laughed. "But it won't…" she froze when Ceilia dashed with her enhanced speed to one of the pieces, reversed her grip to one of the curved blades so it pointed outwards and stabbed it into it before it could return to the main body.

"One down, two to go," Ceilia said as Jess coughed up blood, though she had not taken a hit.

"What… how…" she snarled.

"You are far too confident in your power. You never saw the possibility that my Tamashi Kensaku Me could see its one weak point, or should I say three. I could see that you had three masses in your body that were loaded with chakra. This naturally got me wondering about them, and I tried targeting them, but they always moved to some other point in your body before they could be struck, which confirmed my suspicion that you did not want any of them being hit. That is why I hit you with that chakra enhanced kick. I knew that one of those organs was there and a good blow would separate a piece of you with it inside. Giving me the chance to strike that one piece without it going into another part of you to escape. So what would happen then, if I were to destroy the other two? Judging by the way you are coughing up blood, I would say there is a very good chance that you would die."

"Damn you! Now I am really going to have to kill you, I can't have my secrets being leaked, now can I?"

"You can try," Ceilia said, getting into a battle stance again, though her knees shook slightly. _"Blast, my chakra is fading fast. If I don't hit those remaining organs soon, I'm done for."_

...

Minato dashed once more at Orochimaru, casting hand signs. "Lightning Style: Branching Impalement!" Several bolts of lightning shot from Minato's body and at Orochimaru, who was able to avoid them all, showing that his eyes were currently still active, and his tongue lashed out and wrapped around Minato's neck, slamming him down into the ground, only for him to go out in a puff of smoke. Another Minato came out of the ground, threw a Hiraishin kunai at the snake and cast his hand signs. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The kunai multiplied and all of them sailed at Orochimaru, forcing him to summon another Rashomon gate. Several kunai bounced off, but from the ones that passed the gate, Minato was able to Flash behind the snake and rush him with a Rasengan, just as his mental count reached ten.

Orochimaru whipped around and stabbed Minato through, and Minato disappeared into smoke again, but not before the real one used the Hiraishin seal on the clone to flash to Orochimaru's side. Luckily, he had timed it perfectly, so the snake was caught off guard when Minato slapped his palm against Orochimaru's chest. The snake then kicked Minato in the side of the head, throwing the blonde to the side.

"Clearly, you forgot your Rasengan that time, Yondaime," Orochimaru chuckled. "Are you running low on gas?"

"Not quite, Orochimaru," Minato said as he wiped some blood off of his head as he rose and held a Hiraishin kunai at the ready to fight blade to blade. "Just got a little hasty."

"Kukuku…" Orochimaru chuckled as his eyes flashed again.

_"All right,"_ Minato thought. _"One…"_

They rushed each other and for a moment, the kunai and sword clashed before Orochimaru knocked the kunai loose, and ducked a Rasengan, and impaled Minato, who use a substitution with a log that had one of the Hiraishin seals on it and he flashed again to the log, and tried to strike the snake with a Rasengan, but Orochimaru dodged and lashed Minato with his tongue, and Minato fell to the ground. Orochimaru pointed his sword at Minato. "Kukukuku… do you have any last words, Yondaime?"

"Yes I do…_nine… ten!_ Now, honored predecessors!"

Before Orochimaru could make sense of this, a spear made of wood impaled him, and he was blasted by a water style attack. He was sent back for quite a bit before he shed his body, and looked in irritation at his attackers, who were none other than the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages. Kushina jumped next to Minato, who was panting quite a bit.

"What… a contract seal!" Orochimaru realized, as he looked down at his chest, realizing that was why Minato had not used the Rasengan that blow.

"That's right," Minato said as he rose. "The two kages are no longer bound to you! And that contract seal is advanced enough to keep you from dismissing them as well! You now have more than you can handle stacked against you!"

"Kukukuku… you underestimate me, Yondaime," Orochimaru stated as he rose again, his eyes flashing.

…..

"Uuugh…" Ceilia said as Jess's arm wrapped around her neck. Her chakra was now completely depleted.

"Heh, well, it's been fun, but it's all over now," Jess said as she tightened her grip on her opponent's neck. "Time to die." Before she could tighten it anymore, there was a solid impact, and a lightning coated hand forced its way through her chest. "What?" Jess cried as blood flew from her mouth again, signifying the destruction of her second organ.

"Sorry, I hope you still have some more time to tango," Kakashi said as Ceilia was dropped.

…

"Darn it…" Naruto muttered as he rose with a struggle. He was taking a serious beating from Drakmus, and it did not seem as though it would be letting up any time soon.

**"Naruto, I can safely give you four tails now, and a Version Two cloak," **Kurama said as he started pumping his chakra into the blonde.

"Thanks Kurama," Naruto replied as the cloak enveloped his body. **"I just hope it's enough." **Four-tailed Naruto said, getting down on all fours to fight.

**A/N: Can anyone guess what I am excited about? That's right… my story is now officially over 100,000 words long! 6 digits baby! (Does an embarrassing dance)….. Why are you all staring at me like I'm crazy? This is nothing compared to what I will be doing when I hit 200 reviews, which I hope will be soon!**

**After I post tomorrow's chapter, I will be closing the jinchuriki poll, so vote now! The way things are going, it looks like Fu and Yugito are going to be the winners! I wonder why (snorts).**

**So the invasion will come to a close tomorrow, as Minato and Kushina finish their struggle against Orochimaru, and Naruto fights for his life against Drakmus. Please review!**


	24. Chapter 23: A Broken Friendship

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Hi, I am back, and without further ado, let's wrap up the invasion in this chapter, shall we?**

**Chapter 23: A Broken Friendship**

"Please let me be in time," Felix prayed to any deity that cared to listen as he continued his desperate sprint towards were he felt the two intense, chakras, though it was easy to tell that one outweighed the other. He made a clone and sent it off in the direction of Gaara's chakra.

….

"You alright?" Kakashi asked Ceilia as he helped her up. Jess had fled immediately after losing her second organ, not wanting to run the risk of losing her last one. Kakashi had been unable to follow, due to that strange jutsu that allowed her to break the air and flee through the rift.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to you," Ceilia said as she managed to get to her feet, and she closed her third eye, though not before she got a glimpse of Kakashi's head, and her normal eyes narrowed momentarily. Someone had used the Pulse Imprint Jutsu on him. Felix was not going to be happy… "Listen, we got trouble, one of Iwa's jinchuriki has been caught by a guy wearing a black cloak that had red clouds on it," Ceilia continued hurriedly. As much as she wanted to go help Felix, she had to remember the job her superior had given her, and she knew that Felix did not want her caught in the crossfire between him and Drakmus. If she tried to help him, then odds were that she would only get in his way, especially in her exhausted state.

She undid one of the seals on her leg, and chakra started to once again flow through her body. It was not nearly as much as her full reserves, but it was better than nothing. "Do you have anything with his scent?" Kakashi asked as he started weaving hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" All of his dog summons appeared, including Pakkun.

"Here," Ceilia said as she handed Kakashi a piece of Han's armor.

"Alright, you guys have the scent, lead us to it!" Kakashi said to his dogs and they all obliged.

….

Naruto charged at Drakmus, who stood his ground and swung both of his right arms at the four tailed boy. Naruto responded by extending one of his arms, grabbing a tree branch, and pulling himself out of the way before dashing at Drakmus from the side. The bestial creature turned and received a blow to the face from one of Naruto's clawed hands. Naruto followed up with several more hits, and Drakmus took a step back with each one. After just over ten hits, Drakmus grabbed Naruto's arm.

"That's enough," he said before blasting his two left fists into the boy's torso. There was a sickening crunching noise as Naruto's ribs broke, several pieces piercing his heart and lungs. Blood spewed from the boy's mouth before the blow blasted him through an entire row of trees. Drakmus cracked his neck a few times and stared at the dust he had kicked up before spitting out a little bit of blood from the small amount of damage that Naruto's blows had done.

Naruto's ribs slowly set themselves back into place and mended, while the impalement wounds on his heart and lungs also closed. Naruto glared up at Drakmus, wondering what the hell it was going to take to beat the guy. He started looking for any potential weak points Drakmus may have, and for the first time, the blonde noticed that there was a scar from what had been a very deep wound on Drackmus's chest, running diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip. **"****_What could have possibly caused that on a guy this tough?"_**Naruto thought. He decided that it did not matter right now and the tips of his four tails hovered near his mouth as he started forming a Bijuu Bomb.

"Are you going to come out Kyuubi, or am I going to have to come get you?" Drakmus asked, and got the response of all four of Naruto's tails rushing out of the dust, points first, clearly intent on impaling Drakmus on them. "Pathetic," the monster said as he caught the tails, one in each of his four hands. What he did not expect was that Naruto wanted him to do so, and the jinchuriki capitalized by yanking himself forward with the tails, having already swallowed the Bijuu Bomb, and inflated from it. As a momentary diversion, he extended both hands and smashed them both into the sides of Drakus's head, really irritating the beast. Before Drakmus could retaliate, Naruto was right in front of him, and opened his mouth wide.

**_"Take this,"_**the boy thought with satisfaction as he blasted his enemy point blank with the compressed chakra of the Bijuu Bomb, right in the chest where his Solid Rasenshurikens hit. The resulting blast launched Drakmus back, him releasing Naruto's tails in the process. Naruto landed on all fours, and got ready for his next move.

"You… little… BRAT!" Drakmus roared as he rose, his chest bloodier than before, and the beast spat out some more blood, showing that Naruto had managed to do some internal damage with that stunt. Drakmus got down on all sixes again before he noticed that Naruto's left arm seemed to be missing its left claw, and the arm seemed to be flowing into the ground.

Just before Drakmus could connect the dots, said claw burst from the ground and smashed into his chin and knocked him upwards. Naruto was quick to follow up by thrusting his tails forward, and they smashed point first into Drakmus, penetrating a few centimeters each as they pushed Drakmus backwards and their momentum blasted him through a hill. As he was forced through to the other side of the hill, the tails carried him up into the air for about forty feet, before they reversed direction and slammed him into the ground, the impact creating a large crater. Naruto withdrew the tails. Then and got ready for another round. Drakmus rose from the crater quicker than expected and Naruto fired another Bijuu Bomb at him. Drakmus dodged and closed in at an outrageous speed.

Before Naruto could take evasive actions, he felt one of Drakmus's tails whip him, the spines shredding through his cloak and tearing his flesh, followed by an uppercut from the creature's lower left arm to his chin, almost completely shattering his jaw bone. Another strike followed, a kick to the chest, once again doing a serious amount of damage to his ribs and the organs they encased. The momentum of the blow sent Naruto through some more trees and when he stopped, he waited for his injuries to heal. Unfortunately for him, Drakmus didn't. The monster was right beside Naruto in an instant, picked the boy up with all four hands, and brought him down really fast and thrust his knee upwards meeting Naruto's spine in a very brutal blow. The resulting snap was heard like a gunshot, though the noise was trumped by the scream that Naruto let out. Drakmus picked the broken boy up again, holding him by the neck.

"Five Pronged Seal!" Drakmus shouted as he dug all five fingers of one of his arms into Naruto's seal. The boy screamed again and he fought to stay conscious as Kurama's influence was put under a tight lid and the cloak receded. "Now I have you," Drakmus told his powerless opponent. "Shall we go retrieve your friend and get you to our prison for a while?"

"Put him down Markus!" a familiar voice shouted and Drakmus turned in time to see Felix rush him from the side and try to impale him with his blade. Drakmus sidestepped, but Felix was able to kick his arm, causing him to drop Naruto, and he caught the boy, dashing away from Drakmus before the beast could recover his wits. Snarling, Drakmus fired a ball of Hellfire at Felix, who was able to leap aside, and create a few Shadow clones to keep the beast busy for at least a few seconds.

Felix landed with Naruto and ran through the forest with him while the clones engaged Drakmus in a quick struggle. "Felix… we have to save Gaara…" Naruto said weakly.

"Don't worry, I already did, he is out of that Hellfire Dome and one of my clones took him back to the village," Felix replied. "Our more immediate concern is Drakmus." He set Naruto down and shouted, "Five Prong Seal Release!" his had dug into Naruto's seal, and Naruto groaned as Kurama was once again in his mind.

**"Whew, I thought we were done for back there," **Kurama said. **"Gotta say, you really are one of the luckiest beings alive, Naruto."**

_"I am never going to deny that," _Naruto thought back as Kurama's chakra once again speeded up his Uzumaki healing factor. Once his spine had healed, he experimentally moved his legs and sighed with relief. After that blow, he had been worried about ever being able to walk again. "How did you get Gaara out of that dome?" Naruto asked once he and Felix started their retreat back to Konoha.

"Hellfire may be the most potent flame in existence, but it has a weakness for its users," Felix explained. "It is impossible to light it with chakra, and it only naturally burns in one dimension, where no life can exist. This means that even one such as Drakmus, who can control it with the greatest proficiency, can still only summon it from that dimension. Trying to extinguish it will not work, no one has found a means to do so yet. Sealing them has also proven ineffective, the flames only destroy what you sealed them in. Please tell me that's not what happened to that sword I made you." When a sweat drop from Naruto was his only answer, Felix sighed and continued, "But there is a way to get rid of the flames. As I said before, the only method of using them is summoning them from that dimension that they naturally burn in, but the connection is tenuous. If you are skilled enough, it is a simple matter to disrupt the summoner's chakra flow into the flames with your own, and that returns them to where they were summoned from."

"Huh," Naruto said, before their path was cut off by Drakmus, who was looking very irritated at this point.

"Felix, give me the jinchuriki. Now," Drakmus demanded.

"Sorry Markus, I have no intention of letting you get Naruto," Felix said as he pointed his blade at the beast.

"Markus?" Naruto asked. "Wait, you know this guy or something Felix?"

"I told you not to call me by that name again!" Drakmus shouted at Felix.

"It is a shame. I hoped I would not ever see you again Markus," Felix responded, earning a snarl from Drakmus. "I am going to kill you for what you did."

"I doubt you could," Drakmus responded. "You don't have the strength to do so, not battle wise, or in your heart. I can tell that there is still some affection for me in your eyes."

"You are wrong Markus," Felix replied. "I have gotten strong enough to face you since we last met, and our friendship has been broken long ago. I can never forgive what you did."

"Then why do you insist on using that name? Admit it, you are unable to let go of our old ties."

"Naruto, get ready," Felix said. "I doubt I can take this guy on alone."

Naruto nodded and once again the Version Two cloak enveloped his body.

…..

Orochimaru stared at the four shinobi before him, before he bit his thumb and cast hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" There was a large burst of smoke, and a giant snake came into view. "Manda, I could use some assistance. Once this battle is over, I have an entire village full of sacrifices for you to feast on!" Orochimaru cackled.

"Humph, as long as I get my sacrifices, I won't complain," Manda replied. As he lunged for his enemies, Minato launched a Hiraishin kunai right above Manda before flashing to it, and he cast his own hand signs.

"Summoning Jutsu: Food Cart Destroyer Technique!" the blonde shouted and Gamabunta popped into being and his full mass fell on top of Manda, causing the giant snake to give a bellowing hiss of pain and anger. "Giant Rasengan!" Minato cried and blasted the top of the pinned serpent's head with the large sphere. Manda roared a final time before his skull caved in, killing him instantly.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru abandoned his body, showing his true form as a serpent made up of a multitude of white snakes. "You really did abandon your humanity didn't you Orochimaru," Kushina said with an edge to her voice. "You are a pathetic waste of life."

Orochimaru cackled and shouted, "Eight Branches Technique!" there was an enormous tremor as Orochimaru transformed into a colossal eight-headed serpent.

"It is no use!" Hashirama shouted, weaving a few signs, along with his brother.

"Infinite Darkness Jutsu!" Tobirama shouted. Kushina had described the Miraiyochigan after Minato had used the contract seal, and Tobirama deduced that if Orochimaru was blind by any means, then the ability would be useless, for the Kekkei Genkai worked by showing the user what would be seen by said user during the prediction period. Needless to say, Orochimaru was not happy about having his eyesight stripped from him, keeping him from knowing what was coming.

"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" Hashirama shouted and the blinded giant serpent was restrained immediately by the interlocking coils of wood and trees that came out of the gound beneath him. Orochimaru was further restrained by Kushina's chakra chains, some of them stabbing into the snake by their tips.

"Bunta, oil!" Minato shouted, and the toad obliged Minato, shooting several balls of it from his mouth, until Orochimaru was completely coated despite his immense size, and much of it also soaked into the wood.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Orochimaru screamed from inside the mouth of one of his eight serpent heads as he realized the intent of his enemies. "This cannot happen to me! I am the immortal Orochimaru! I am a god! I am the one who will receive everything!"

"Immortality is not for the mortal, at least not in the form you want it," Minato declared. "the True way to gain immortality is by passing the memories of our deeds and our ideals to the younger generation! And that generation is what we shinobi are supposed to protect! It is the job of those from our time to make sacrifices so that the younger generation can have a brighter future! That is a large part of Konoha's Will of Fire!"

"And you will see our Will of Fire in a literal sense firsthand!" Kushina shouted as she cast several signs. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" An inferno of flames ran down Kushina's chains to the gargantuan serpent and ignited the oil. Orochimaru screamed in agony as he was completely trapped in the blaze, and the forest Hashirama made also caught on fire, adding kindling to the flames. The screams died down after several minutes of Hashirama adding more wood style attacks to the fire, and Bunta firing more oil into the inferno. By the time the fire died down, all that was left of Orochimaru was a charred skeleton, which easily crumbled when Bunta smashed it, and they burned the pieces for good measure. Orochimaru was finally dead.

"A funeral pyre like that is more of an honor that someone who would threaten our village deserves," Tobirama said to Hashirama and the latter simply shrugged.

….

The final vestiges of battle around Konoha were dying down. All of the clans were just wrapping up the final part of the Oto forces, aided by the Sand troops as well as the Stone strike team. Itachi could be seen fighting alongside his mother and several other members of the Uchiha clan. The genin who participated in the exams had stayed in the arena, and were able to avoid any serious injury, with the exception of Temari, who had been saved by Shikamaru during a sticky spot. Haku had prevented a group of Sound ninja from carrying out orders to kill the patients in the exam infirmary, Lee and Kin. Zabuza and Roshi were able to hold their own against Kisame and Sasori until Gai, Asuma and Kurenai had arrived, forcing the two Akatsuki members into retreat. Kakashi and Ceilia had returned with Han, who had been returned without a fight by Kakuzu after Kakashi had destroyed his penultimate **(A/N: one of my favorite words, it means second to last)** heart.

But there was still one important detail that was still happening, and that was what a certain Uchiha was heading for, having heard explosions from the general direction and correctly assuming that was where Naruto must be. "I hope you aren't in too deep this time Naruto," Sasuke muttered.

….

Drakmus was launching a flurry of blows at Felix with all thirteen of his limbs, including his wings, and Felix was barely avoiding the worst of it. He was rescued by Naruto, who was able to land a hammer blow (an attack where you clench your two fists together and slam them down on your enemy) right in the center of Drakmus's four wings, and knock the beast away from Felix, who took the chance to send a Thundering Gale Slice at Drakmus, who was able to turn to see it coming. He opened his mouth and bit down on the attack, dispersing it, and swiped at a Bijuu Bomb, detonating it before it could hit him directly.

Drakmus dashed forward and slammed an elbow to Naruto's gut, once again breaking bones and causing Naruto to spew blood from his mouth. Naruto managed to stand his ground this time, and lashed out with his tails, hitting Drakmus a few times before the creature kneed Naruto in the chin, jumped up after him, grabbed the boy and flipped several times to add force to the throw when he launched Naruto headfirst into the ground, blasting a very deep hole into it.

Drakmus turned to meet a charge from Felix, who brought Elemental Infinity down with the intent to kill Drakmus then and there. Drakmus caught the blade between all four palms and lashed out with his tails, catching Felix, only for the green head to vanish in smoke. Drakmus turned in time to see the real Felix between two clones throw a Rasenshuriken at him, with a little bit of lightning style chakra added. "Lightning and Wind Style: Charged Rasenshuriken!" Felix shouted as he did so **(A/N: One of my biggest disappointments with the original story is that Kishimoto never really explored the other potential variants of an elemental Rasengan, or do more than one element to one. This is one of the things this story is going to rectify)**. Drakmus was caught off guard and the Charged Rasenshuriken blasted into his chest, where the damage was beginning to add up.

After Drakmus recovered from the hit, he had to dodge another one before he was able to dash to Felix again and throw a punch, which though Felix was able to block with Elemental Infinity, he was blasted painfully through a boulder. Drakmus raised his arm to block a retaliatory Thundering Gale Slice, getting a slight nick in the process. Felix turned his blade to point to the ground. Realizing the man's intent, Drakmus charged forward to stop him, but got hit in the side by a Bijuu Bomb that Naruto launched.

"Elemental Style: Dragon Ruler of All Elements!" Felix cried, stabbing his sword into the ground and the giant dragon he conjured sprang into being. Drakmus rose from the rubble he had been in after the last Bijuu Bomb hit, and with a growl, opened his mouth and Felix and Naruto watched in awe as a sphere of energy similar to a Bijuu Bomb formed, only this one seemed denser somehow.

Naruto took a step forward before he fell to his knees, his shroud fading as that happened. The world seemed to be spinning, "Damn, why am I so dizzy?" the boy asked as he held his head, his heart beating at an alarming rate. "I know I am not that far gone with the chakra depletion yet…" He got no further as he collapsed, out like a light.

Felix's dragon charged Drakmus, who released the chakra orb. The explosion that followed completely obliterated Felix's elemental dragon, and Felix was barely able to raise a wall of earth in time to protect him from the worst of the blast, but he was still hit hard, and he lost his sword. Drakmus was panting heavily as he was finally running low on chakra himself after that blast. He leapt to where Felix lay. "And so it ends, old friend," Drakmus said almost sadly and he raised his claw to finish off Felix, who tried to get up and dodge, but Drakmus held him down with a foot.

Then he heard a crackling noise, followed by a shout of, "Lightning Style: Rasenlance!" Drakmus turned and took the spear of lightning in his already damaged chest. The drilling attack was momentarily stalled before it fully impaled Drakmus through the center of his chest, nicking his heart and one of his lungs. Drakmus staggered back and looked up at his new assailant to see Sasuke Uchiha in his Second State, and a purple aura surrounding him, forming into the Susanoo, which had an arrow ready to fire.

"Blast," Drakmus said and the air behind him cracked and he faded into the rift, the Susanoo arrow whizzing through where he had been a second ago.

"He got away," Sasuke groaned as he wiped away his eye blood. He turned to Felix who rose and retrieved Elemental Infinity. "Felix, do you have anything to do with why we are in the past?"

Felix froze before he turned to Sasuke. "How-we will have to talk about this later. Right now, we have a more immediate concern." He turned his head to the unconscious Naruto. Sasuke immediately understood and they both dashed to the blonde's side.

"Is he alright? I mean, he does have a healing factor, doesn't he?" Sasuke asked as Felix did some basic diagnostic medical ninjutsu.

Felix swore as he saw the problem. "Well, unfortunately, it won't be able to replace the blood he lost when we fought that guy. If he does not get a transfusion pronto, he will not make it back to Konoha. What is your blood type? He needs a type B donor, and unlucky for us, I happen to be type A."

"AB," Sasuke said in a defeated tone, realizing he would not work as a donor, since his the A part of his blood would be a poison to Naruto. "Is there something else we can-,"

"Actually, I have a way to fix that," Felix said to Sasuke. "I am no Ceilia, but I can put a seal on you that will keep the A blood from leaving your body while we give Naruto the B."

Sasuke nodded and Felix put the seal on his arm before cutting the palm. He then proceeded to cut Naruto's hand and told Sasuke to grip Naruto's hand in a manner that would have their cuts in contact with each other. Once that was done, Felix began using a medical ninjutsu that would allow the Uchiha's blood to flow into Naruto's body, though the procedure was made somewhat more complicated by Naruto's healing factor closing the cut on his hand. Regardless, they managed to get enough blood into Naruto's body to get him out of danger, and he actually woke up a little.

"Ugh, what hit me?" the blonde groaned as he got into a sitting position, ignoring Felix's protests.

"Quite a bit apparently," Sasuke smirked. "We needed to give you a blood transfusion to keep you alive."

"Huh. When did you get here Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"About fifteen minutes ago. The invasion is pretty much over at this point. And a few interesting things happened during it as well…"

"Like what?"

"Well, let's just say that you have quite a bit of explaining to do later."

**A/N: All right, so the poll on the jinchuriki has closed now. The winners are Yugito and Fu. Lucky them!**

**Next chapter will start with a flashback of Felix's past with Drakmus, so it ought to interest you all!**

**By the way, has anyone done any fan art for my OCs? I am quite interested to see some good renderings of these characters.**

**New poll out. Obviously you can guess that a mission to Orochimaru's bases will be done, and four people will be rescued from them: Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo and Kimimaru. So, of those three guys, who should I pair Karin with? This poll will be open for quite a while, but please, I am eager to see what the thoughts are. Go to my profile if you want to vote for a pairing. **

**I also want to ask, should I give Naruto the Rinnegan much later in the story, due to the transfusion of blood he got from Sasuke? I would like to hear your opinions on it via reviews, and discuss it with you all before I decide.**

**So read, vote and review!**


	25. Chapter 24: A Discarded Name

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I have officially done it! I hit 200 reviews! And the first ten chapters of the story have hit 1000 or more views! Whoohoo! (Sets off several fireworks, and ends up setting garage on fire and has to put it out in a hurry) Okay, this is going to be difficult to explain to my parents… Maybe they won't notice? ….. I am so screwed.**

**Now, back to the story, hope you all enjoy the back story with Felix and Drakmus.**

**Chapter 24: A Discarded Name**

_"What were you after today Markus?" _Felix asked himself as he, Sasuke and Naruto, the latter being carried by the two former, headed back to the village. _"Why are you working with the Akatsuki, and whoever else is after the jinchuriki?"_

_Flashback_

_Felix had been five years old when an incident had occurred in the Elder Dimension. One of the higher ranking nobles of the Shikokkyo clan had tried to assassinate several members of the Ruling Council. The attempt had failed, and the man had been put to death, and that should have been the end of it. However, the ruling council had then sent several knights to exterminate the Shikokkyo clan in retaliation. The attempt ultimately failed and about a quarter of the clan had survived, including the young Xackary. _

_Needless to say, there had been an uproar against the Elder Dimension's Ruling Council, and it did not help when they denied ever trying to have the clan destroyed. All of the knights that had been captured testified that they had indeed received orders to destroy the clan. Slowly, a group had been created to overthrow the Ruling Council, and it gained support from several clans. Secretly, one of the clan heads who offered support to Victor, the leader of the planned coup was Will Yoshoryuu, Felix's father._

_But the ruling council had very strong forces, so much preparation would be required in order to stage a successful coup. One such preparation was the creation of a weapon, one with enough power to defeat any foe. They took a newborn child whose chakra coils were not developed from an orphanage. His mother had died in childbirth, his father having been taken by an illness. This left the child parentless and nameless. _

_They then took chakra that had been stripped from the bodies of several minor demons and sealed until they had a vegetative chakra beast with enough power to rival the strongest of the fragments of the Jyuubi, and in a process that took a little over a month, fused the mindless chakra creature with the child. This was not the same as sealing, this was a method that actually made the chakra beast and the child one, though the child would only have his appearance changed when using the power. _

_Of course, before the coup could have a chance of succeeding, they needed to make sure the child could mature, so all plans were to put on hold until the child reached the age of at least ten and had full use of his power. So until then, Will had volunteered to take the boy in for five years until he was ready for Victor's training, and gave Felix and his elder by seven years brother Kyle the responsibility of caring for the child for the first five years of his life, and making sure that the boy could live a happy childhood despite the burden he had been given._

_To that end, Felix had decided that the boy needed a name, and was the one who gave one to the child. So began the life of Markus. _

_Over the next five years, Markus had developed a brotherly bond with Felix. The two were like brothers to each other, and it was rare to see them apart. But Markus had been distant with just about everyone else. He was cordial towards Kyle, who had always tried to treat the kid well, and Xackary, who had been a friend with Felix, and most of the rest of the Yoshoryuu clan, but he was almost always distant with everyone else. Despite the fact that his bond with a mindless creature that had been made of the chakras of minor demons was kept a close secret, he knew he was different, and had no interest in befriending most people, since he knew several would want him killed for what he was. The only one who he had trusted completely and unconditionally was Felix._

_Then five years into Markus's life, Victor and some of his men had come and taken him to their compound to begin the boy's training, and Felix began seeing less and less of Markus. However, whenever he did see his friend, he noticed that Markus had started becoming more distant with him as well._

_Then, three years after Markus's training began, Kyle had stumbled upon Victor having a conversation with one of the coup planners, a genjutsu specialist. He had eavesdropped out of sheer curiosity and what he heard made his blood run cold. Victor was asking the genjutsu specialist to use his talents to stage another incident of the Ruling Council committing an atrocity in order to gain more support for the coup._

_Kyle then snuck into the most private office of Victor and found several files detailing that the Shikokkyo clan member that had attempted to assassinate the Ruling Council members had done so under a genjutsu, and the knights that had been sent to destroy the clan were also under a genjutsu that had been almost undetectable, and they actually believed that they were under orders. It was all a ploy for Victor to justify his bid to seize power._

_It was after Kyle had made the discovery that he had been discovered by Victor's soldiers and he had to make a quick escape that cost him his left hand. But he managed to get away with his life and the files. He had then told Will everything about the falsified evidence, and that the Ruling Council had committed no crime. Upon hearing of Victor's treachery, Will immediately ordered the Yoshoryuu clan to prepare for battle. Despite having just lost a hand, Kyle insisted on fighting as well, and Felix, despite being the young age of thirteen, was already at the level of half of the clan's adults and was also allowed on the strike team._

_That same night, the strongest of the Yoshoryuu clan attacked the primary base of operations of Victors planned coup. Despite having been expected, the Yoshoryuu clan was not considered one of the Elder Dimension's strongest for nothing, and they defeated all resistance with only a few casualties. What happened next was something Felix would never forget, even if he tried._

_"It's over Victor," Will said as he pointed Elemental Infinity at the wounded coup leader. Four other members of the clan, including Felix and Kyle stood behind their clan head. "Surrender now, and I can promise you a fair trial from the Ruling Council."_

_"Don't give me that," Victor said as he struggled to rise to his feet. "Even if my trial was fair, the Shikokkyo clan would call for my head, and my crimes more than given me a death sentence already. Besides, I still have an ace up my sleeve."_

_"Enough!" Will shouted and he rushed Victor, only for a blur to come between them and deflect Will's sword, knocking it from his hand and it skidded along the ground, stopping at Felix's feet. Before Will could react, the figure's hand turned into some kind of mutated dragon claw and plunged though his heart. Will was dead within a second._

_"M-Markus?" Felix asked as he watched his father's corpse hit the ground. Tears flowed from his eyes as he asked, "Markus, why would you…?"_

_"It was my duty," Markus said simply, wiping his bloody hand on his shirt. "I was created to serve Victor. That is my purpose in life, what I was born for. I am a weapon, a demon, nothing more."_

_"That's it? Why would you waste your power to serve that scumbag!?" Felix demanded as Victor laughed at the clansmen who were also enraged at the death of their clan head. "Why… why did you kill Father!? What the hell is wrong with you?" Felix's fists clenched in rage as his eyes tightly shut as he faced the ground. "I… I thought we were friends, no, I thought we were brothers!"_

_"You were just my caretaker. Any bond we might have had before has ended," Markus said coldly. _

_"You bastard!" the remaining two clansmen besides Felix and Kyle shouted and they charged Markus, intent on avenging their fallen leader. Markus effortlessly killed the first one and knocked the other down. His hand was about to tear the man's throat out._

_"Stop!" Felix shouted, rushing Markus and picking up Elemental Infinity as he went. The blade immediately sent Sage Chakra into Felix, and his speed shot up, surprising Markus. Before the boy could dodge, Felix swung upward in a diagonal blow, cutting Markus from his right hip to his left shoulder. Blood spurted from the deep wound and Drakmus jumped back, clutching his chest where Elemental Infinity cut it. Felix panted, his face having grown scales, along with the back of his hands, and horns jutted slightly from his forehead, a result of him balancing Sage Chakra imperfectly. "You… you are not the Markus I once knew," Felix said as he stared at Markus with his now slit eyes and grit his sharpened teeth._

_Markus narrowed his eyes at Felix and said, "I see. In that case, I have little use for the name you have given me." Marcus cast a sign, and burning letters of Hellfire spelling two words, MARKUS and DEMON, materialized in the air. A wave of his hand caused all but the D in DEMON to dissipate, and that D joined the letters of MARKUS as the rearranged themselves. Markus smirked as the final result came. DRAKMUS._

_"This will be my new name," Markus/Drakmus stated. "I have no use for Markus any more. That naïve child is long gone. I have discarded him."_

_"Good, now I won't have any more feelings against killing you!" Felix shouted and he charged Drakmus, casting a few hand signs as he went. "Summoning Jutsu!" A large red dragon appeared and the base was broken apart. Unfortunately, Drakmus and Victor had escaped that night._

_Felix took over as clan head then, as were the laws because Elemental Infinity had chosen him as its new wielder after Will had died. Though any Yoshoryuu could safely hold and use the blade once they mastered all five elements, the weapon would only give Sage Chakra to the first person to lay hands on its hilt after its previous master had perished that it deemed worthy. As per the clan laws, whoever that person was would lead the clan. _

_Needless to say, Felix was one of the youngest to have the role at the young age of thirteen, but thanks to some help from Kyle, he was able to lead the clan fairly well for the first few years. At the age of sixteen, Felix met Drakmus and Victor again and with the aid of several other knights, he was able to defeat them, and Victor died with Elemental Infinity through his heart. Felix took a grim pleasure in killing the one responsible for twisting Markus's mind. _

_Stripped of his master, Drakmus had vanished, never to be seen again._

_End Flashback_

_"Until today,"_ Felix thought as they reached the village. _"What caused you to become like this, Markus? And what are you after now?"_

….

The invasion had ended and Konoha came out better than it had the last time. There was barely a quarter of the casualties of last time on Konoha's end, thanks to several factors, including the fact that Sand was on the side of Konoha this time, along with some help from Iwa, as well as because of the knowledge of the invasion beforehand allowing Konoha to prepare accordingly, and finally because they had Tsunade this time, who helped kill some of the giant snakes alongside Jiraiya, and healed some of the worst injuries on the battlefield.

Of course, the hospital was still a little crowded, a fact that was not lost on the sore Naruto, who hated the place already, mainly due to the poor food quality. Fortunately, his healing factor and Kurama's chakra once again helped him recover within a day of admittance into the place and he was released. Kin had been taken out of the hospital by Ibiki and Anko once she had recovered. She had gone quietly, and was willing to give all the information she had on the Sound Village, and all the bases she knew of (she has no idea how much easier she made things on herself with her cooperation). Due to her compliance and disinterest in working for the Sound Village anymore, Minato was willing to have her released and gave her the option of joining the Leaf after a probation period, and she chose to accept, as long as the village did not screw her over like the Sound Village had done.

Temari was also released soon, though not before she had a visit from Shikamaru, when she asked him why he had saved her when she had been cornered by the Oto jonin who had managed to injure her, and he simply shrugged and said he had felt like it. Gaara was also let out after he had been healed of the concussion Drakmus had given him.

When Lee was finally let out under the admonishment to take it easy, Gai had been pleased that the flames of youth could never be kept down for long, and he and Lee had done the unbreakable sunset genjutsu in the hospital waiting room, making the therapy division a very happy group as they started counting the money from the flood of patients.

Unfortunately, Kabuto had made his escape during the invasion after his master had been incinerated by his four opponents, and no one was able to catch him. Oh well, not everything can go right…

The Mizukage had left a few days after the excitement ended, once the political business between Kiri and Konoha had ended. She was not pleased with the fact that Minato had refused to order Zabuza to at least return Kubikiribocho, but Konoha had offered a decent bit of compensation that settled things.

Xackary, Borace and the Kazekage had arrived a little after the departure of the Mizukage. The Kazekage was given his memories back by Felix, since the knowledge he had of the future was not sensitive, and Gaara wanted his father to remember what had happened between them during their fight in the future. The Kazekage had met with Minato and Onoki to discuss plans for the future battles with the Akatsuki, and those from the Elder Dimension. The Kazekage then signed treaties with both other kage to strengthen the alliance. Xackary meanwhile had dismissed the souls of the reincarnated Hokage, allowing them to return to the Pure Realm. Soon after, the Kazekage took Gaara, Temari and Kankuro back to Suna, while Onoki left with his escort, Han and Roshi going with him, the latter agreeing to stay in Iwa to train in light of the developments involving the Akatsuki.

About a week after the invasion, Felix called a meeting between him, Ceilia, Xackay, Borace, Naruto , Itachi, and Sasuke to discuss the matter of Sasuke's involvement with the future. Sasuke explained that he had his memories back and knew that Felix was somehow responsible for the second chance they currently had. It was easy to figure out because he had no memory of Felix in the past life, or of Ceilia, but Ceilia had come into the picture only recently.

Surprisingly, when Ceilia had shown up, she was dragging Kakashi behind her by his hair. "What are you doing Ceilia?" Felix asked. "He is not supposed to be in on this."

"Is there something you would like to share with the rest of us, Itachi?" Ceilia asked the Uchiha as she tossed the anime weeping Cyclops into the midst of the group. "My third eye saw the traces of your chakra, so don't bother trying to lie to me."

Itachi sighed as he realized that the jig was up, Felix's eyes on him. "Well, I may have… used the Pulse Imprint Jutsu on him…" he said guiltily.

"YOU WHAT!?" Felix shouted, before he forced himself to be calm so fast he would seem bipolar. "Great, another complication," he muttered as Naruto sighed in resignation that he was going to have a talk with Kakashi about Obito. "Never mind, we can discuss this later… And we WILL discuss this Itachi," Felix glared at Itachi. "You have betrayed my trust by using that jutsu on someone without my knowledge or permission, so don't think that you will be getting out of this. The information Kakashi had was very sensitive, so I can't ignore that either."

"So can we move on to the part about why time has turned back on us?" Sasuke asked. Felix apologized and launched into an explanation about how the future had gone to hell very fast after Sasuke had died last time, and Sasuke winced at the memory. Felix then explained how the reset button had been hit, and how Sasuke's memories had been restored. There were a few comments as the explanation went on from Naruto, Ceilia and Itachi about the parts they played thus far.

"I see," Sasuke said before he turned to Naruto. Then, with no warning, he slammed his fist into Naruto's gut, causing the blonde to double over and look up at Sasuke in shock. "Why the hell didn't you restore my mind sooner? Did you really think that I would turn bad again, that I would not take remembering these things well? Naruto, the last thing I did before you turned back time was come between you and your death… didn't that mean anything?"

"Yeah, it did," Naruto said. "And I knew that you were not going to go bad again if you remembered."

"Then why?"

"Because, I thought about it, I really did, but when I remembered what your past life was like, and knowing the pain that you felt after losing comrades myself… I just couldn't bring myself to have that wound reopened in you. That's all…"

"I see…" Sasuke said and his expression softened a little.

"Ahem, now that we have you up to speed," Felix said, bringing attention back to himself. "Now we need to discuss the matter of Itachi's stupidity. Sasuke, if you don't mind leaving, there is a piece of sensitive information that may be brought up that is not for your ears."

It was Felix's turn to get slugged in the gut, this time by Naruto. "Hell no, I think we kept the teme here in the dark enough already," the blonde said. "Lack of trust is not going to help us here."

"Fine," Felix wheezed. "So tell me Itachi, what possessed you to restore Kakashi's memory?"

Itachi resigned himself to explaining his reasons behind his actions, wanting to better understand how Sasuke had fallen the last time and having found out about Obito in the process. Sasuke was surprised to find that detail out, he had never learned that it was not Madara himself manipulating him.

At the end, Felix sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is the last time I teach someone not from the Elder Dimension that jutsu… I will let it slide this time, due to your reasons for using it, but I won't be so lenient if it ever happens again."

"Well it's not like you can do anything," Naruto sniggered. "Remember, I traded blows with Itachi before time was rewound, so how would you punish the guy if he fought back?"

"I would have thought Konoha's number one prankster would know that there are more subtle ways to make someone suffer miserably, and besides, I could always get someone else to do my dirty work."

"Good point," Naruto sniggered.

….

"How. Could. This. Happen!" Raizen shouted at both Drakmus and Jess as he broke a table under his armored fist, causing Jess to wince, and Drakmus to lower his head in supplication. "We had four jinchuriki waiting to be captured, all within our grasp at some point, and yet all slip through our fingers! Not only that, but Drek had even gotten himself killed! The only thing that went as we hoped was the extermination of Orochimaru! Explain yourselves. Now."

Wincing, both Jess and Drakmus told of how their attempts to take the jinchuriki had failed. To say Raizen was not pleased would be an understatement, and he even went so far as to accuse Drakmus of having held back against Felix. Drakmus did not like this and assured his master that he would not have shown Felix any mercy. He had discarded his former name for a reason.

"Oh well," Raizen said. "At least Sasuke has his memories back. Even if he has no intention of joining us now, when the time comes, he should only need a little… persuasion." With that, Raizen opened his eyes slowly, and under the shadows of his visor, the Sharingan he had been given by Obito were clearly visible.

….

"Sasuke," Kakashi said to the young Uchiha the moment they were alone.

"What is it, Kakashi…. Sensei," Sasuke replied, surprising Kakashi with the sensei part a little.

"Listen, I want to know, just how did you manage to see the light again?"

"This is about Obito, isn't it?" Kakashi blinked. "You want to know how you can bring him back, right?"

"Nothing gets by you, does it?" Kakashi eye smiled.

"Itachi and I met up again after Kabuto brought him back. With a little help from me, he was able to subdue Kabuto and get him to release the Edo Tensei. Before he returned to the afterlife, he was able to give me some final words that started to reach me. A few other things happened after, but it was ultimately him who made me remember what he would have wanted. How you could help Obito… well I am sure you know where I am going with this, though I don't know if that's the best idea."

"Yeah, I do," Kakashi said thoughtfully.

"Just don't dwell on the idea. It may not even work, and if it doesn't you need to be prepared to kill Obito if he continues after his fool's dream and tries to drag the rest of the world with him."

"You don't have to remind me," Kakashi sighed.

**A/N: So far, I am getting mostly positive feedback on my thoughts of the idea of giving Naruto the Rinnegan, though I have also had a few protests on the idea. I would like to be honest and admit that it's one of the things that I want to do with this story, I am just a bit over worried that I will be pissing off my readers over it. **

**So keep supplying your thoughts on the idea, and please keep reviewing! I am not so naïve to think that I will have 300 reviews by the time I have posted chapter thirty, but hey, a guy can hope, can't he? Maybe if I come close, I can live with that.**


	26. Chapter 25: Mission to Sound

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Now we have a mission to Otogakure in order to clean up a few loose ends. Nothing should go wrong… right? Sigh, looks like Naruto and the crew are in for some mayhem.**

**Chapter 25: Mission to Sound**

"And you recommended this mission why?" Minato asked Sasuke. He, Kushina, Sasuke and Naruto were currently standing in the Hokage's office, Sasuke having brought up the subject of going to Otogakure to raid Orochimaru's bases.

"Because it seems necessary, Hokage -sama," Sasuke replied. "Orochimaru had a lot of experiments that I know of going on, and who knows what will happen if they are left unattended. Plus, he has several people that I knew at some point locked up in his labs, and a few not entirely loyal servants, and I have no intention of just leaving them there. And there is the possibility of him returning if we don't take care of a particular problem soon."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean he could return?" Naruto asked.

"Did you not see Orochimaru in the future, before time was turned back?" Sasuke asked.

"Uh no, but now that you mention it…" Naruto said as he remembered that Minato had mentioned that Orochimaru had resurrected him during their brief reunion in the future, but Naruto had pretty much forgotten about that.

"One of Orochimaru's means of immortality lies within his cursed seals," Sasuke said as he rubbed his neck somewhat semiconsciously. "He has a bit of his own consciousness within them. Ceilia got rid of the one in mine, and she is as we speak finishing up Anko's, which is the one I used when I needed to bring Orochimaru back. But there are several other curse marks that are not attended to, and if we leave them as they are, and someone where to simply hold up a piece of flesh with Orochimaru's DNA to the seal and perform a certain jutsu, next thing we know, all of the efforts to get rid of the snake are defenestrated **(A/N: Another word I like, it means literally to throw out the window) **.

"All right then," Minato said as he looked at some files with intel on Otogakure. "And just who are these people you knew? Just out of curiosity I mean."

"There are three in particular. Suigetsu Hozuki, Jugo, and Karin Uzumaki," Sasuke stated, and Kushina showed some surprise that a member of her clan was still alive. "I would also release all other experiments after we have made sure they have no curse mark. Those who do will have to have theirs removed by Ceilia before we let them go free."

"Well there is no way in hell we are leaving an Uzumaki in Oto, and I certainly don't want to have to kill that traitor again," Minato said.

"Damn right about that," Kushina said. "If you did have her left behind, you would never get off the couch at night." Minato sweat dropped.

"All right then, I will have the strike teams assembled. I will send them out tomorrow. I assume you both want to be a part of it?" Naruto and Sasuke both nodded. "All right then. Dismissed."

…..

Kabuto sighed in relief after he finally made it back to one of Orochimaru's bases. Ever since the failed invasion, he had been hounded by several Konoha ninja, and he had to take some very confusing routes and use every trick in the book to shake them. He amused himself for a moment with the image of the reactions he was sure a group of Inuzukas would have once the pepper bomb traps he set went off.

He entered the base and considered his next move. Since Orochimaru was dead, he would have to be very careful as to what he did from now on. He supposed he could just be a freelance spy, but he did have something to fall back on. It looked like he would have to contact Sasori again, but he would need a good faith sort of payment if he was going to work for him long term.

He visited Kimimaro's room, and looked at the charts. Needless to say, the man was devastated to hear about Orochimaru's demise, and just sunk into depression. Kabuto made sure the machines would keep Kidomaro alive for at least a little longer before he went to send a message to Sasori. After all, the puppet master would want the body to be still alive before he worked on it…

…..

"Everyone here?" Felix asked the next day as the group assembled. The team that had been chosen consisted of twelve members with three groups, with Felix being the leader of his own, consisting of Xackary, Borace and Anko, who had her seal finished with some modifications, and was eager to exact a personal poetic revenge against Orochimaru by helping to pick apart the nation he had built by using the power he had given her without the original drawbacks of him messing with her mind.

Zabuza was also selected for the mission after his probation period had ended and his team was Haku, Hana Inuzuka, and Kin, who was given the mission due to her familiarity with Otogakure, and was told to consider it a test of her loyalty. Haku was picked because even though he was officially a genin, Zabuza assured Minato that Haku had the abilities of at least a high chunin. Hana was put on the team to serve as a tracker and a medic for the team.

Itachi was the final team leader and would be bringing two of his own subordinates, Naruto and Sasuke, along with Shizune, who Naruto requested to be included so she could give immediate medical care to Kimimaro once they reached the base he was held in. Naruto had heard of Kimimaro's story previously from Gaara, and was determined to help him as well. Sasuke said that may be extremely difficult, because from what he heard about the Kaguya, he was very single mindedly loyal to Orochimaru.

Naruto had expressed surprise that Xackary was going to be in on the mission to Sound, which was explained by Borace. Apparently Xackary wanted to punish Kabuto for abusing the dead in the future. Once again, Naruto was a little confused because he had thought that the Elder Dimension knights were unable to fight those Naruto had fought before. Borace corrected him, saying _Felix_ was unable to do so, because the seal used to rewind time was written in his blood, meaning it could only be used with his permission and he alone was bound by the rules. That said, it was still frowned upon for knights to fight battles in a world of reversed time that the seal owner couldn't, but considering how personal it was to Xackary's clan for people to abuse the dead, Borace was sure the Elder Dimension's Ruling Council would turn a blind eye to the transgression.

With that taken care of, the group headed for enemy territory. Their first destination was to the Southern Base, where they would find Karin, so they went southeast to Wave Country to get a boat to the island.

…..

Sakura and Hinata sighed simultaneously. They were both depressed that their crushes were out on missions without them. Hinata had been told by Naruto that it was a mission into Otogakure, and she had wanted to go with him, but he told her that all the members had already been selected for the mission. She was concerned, but he told her that Oto was in turmoil after the demise of Orochimaru and failed invasion, so there should be little to no serious threat of organized resistance from the Sound ninja, and besides, it was not a large nation to begin with, and was mainly just scattered bases over the nations.

"Do you think they will be alright?" Hinata asked Sakura, who did not know the details of the mission Sasuke was on, but was aware that it was an A rank mission.

"Of course they will be, don't be silly," Sakura replied. "I mean, they have some pretty strong companions with them from what I heard, and you know how strong Itachi is."

"That's true, Itach-sensei is very powerful."

"And don't forget, Naruto and Sasuke may still be genin officially, but they are shoo-ins for chunin once the judges make their final decision. They practically stole the entire show during their fight, they seemed more like jonin hopefuls than chunin. If only Orochimaru hadn't interrupted the event, I would have killed to see Sasuke-kun's victory."

Hinata spewed the water she was drinking in shock. "D-don't be ridiculous," she sputtered. "Sasuke-kun may be very strong, but Naruto-kun would have beaten him if the fight had continued."

"Oh yeah!?" Sakura demanded as the two girls glared daggers at each other, and everyone else around them wisely backed off to avoid the dangerously close cat fight. "Sasuke-kun would not have been beaten by Naruto, I mean, he had the Sharingan for crying out loud, how do you beat that?!"

"The Sharingan may be powerful, but it's not invincible! No dojutsu is!" Hinata retorted, glad none of the elders of her clan were around to hear that and reprimand her for belittling the Byakugan.

The argument continued and was heard though out half the village.

…..

A few days later, the boats Naruto's group were traveling in departed from the Southern Base with Karin in tow. Though she had been a little difficult at first to convince, she was much more reasonable once she had learned the Naruto was an Uzumaki like her. Once she started listening and learned of Orochimaru's demise, she was willing to join the Hidden Leaf. So once the prisoners had been released, none of them having the cursed seal fortunately, Karin was accompanying them on the way to their next destination, Yugakure, the location of the Eastern Base, where they would find Suigetsu, and the Hawk Summoning Contract **(A/N: It was never told how he got that, so I will just assume Orochimaru had acquired it and had it stored somewhere)**, which Sasuke decided he would sign again.

Of course, it did not take Karin long to develop a crush on Sasuke, like she had done last time. Naruto found this hilarious, while Sasuke was looking at the surface of the water, probably contemplating drowning himself. Once they had docked, Naruto managed to say to Sasuke without the stalker, er, Karin hearing him, "You better have a plan to stop Karin and Sakura from killing each other over you when we get back, because that would not be pretty." Naruto sniggered as Sasuke paled and cast one more glance at the water before they made their way to the Eastern Base. Once they were done there, they would go to the Northern Base to pick up Jugo, before they went back south to the main Oto base for Kimimaro and the Snake summoning contract, which Sasue also decided to sign again. It should take about five days, give or take to reach that final destination.

…

Somewhere in Iwa, in a hidden Akatsuki base, Drakmus looked at the new blade he had forged with a critical eye. He had left his other sword behind when he had escaped from Sasuke, so a new one was needed. Shaking his head, Drakmus conjured his Hellfire around the sword and got to work fixing the small error he had seen. Even though his materials were ordinary steel, using Hellfire to forge his weapons out of it drastically improved the metal and stained it black, almost the same shade as the natural black steel and about the same strength while holding just as keen an edge.

A few hours later, he looked at the sword again and finally nodded as he slipped the sword into its scabbard. "You really do have your work down to an art form," a voice said from behind him. Draknus turned to see his partner Sasori standing behind him without his Hiruko, because it had been broken during the fight with Roshi, and he was still putting the finishing touches on the new one. He had clearly patiently waiting for Drakmus to finish, which struck the part demon as odd, because he knew his partner's impatience.

"How long have you been there?" Drakmus asked as he rose and stretched, wincing slightly as his chest throbbed. He now had two scars on his body, the first being the one Felix had given to him while he was eight, the second being the one inflicted by the Rasenlance that Sasuke had impaled him with, and that one hadn't fully healed. While his demon hide would normally have turned even that attack, the repeated blows to his chest that day had weakened it to the point where it finally gave out to that attack. It was lucky for Drakmus that his enlarged body had only taken superficial wounds to a lung and his heart.

"About an hour," Sasori shrugged.

"That's unlike you. Normally you get ticked if you have to wait more than a few minutes for something."

"True, but as I said, I was fascinated by your craft, and it filled the time to watch."

"So what did you want?"

"A favor," Sasori said as he pulled a scroll from his sleeve. "I have recently heard of a new subject I can use for one of my prize puppets, and would like to add some of your weapons to it. Do you mind forging these tools for me?" Drakmus took the scroll and looked over the list.

"Hmm, it will take a few days to a week to make all these," he said thoughtfully. "But it is fine, I have nothing better to do."

"Well at least you can get us to where we need to be once you are done in a heartbeat. That rift splitting jutsu is a godsend for saving time. How long does an educated guess say the tools will take?"

Drakmus looked at the list and did some more thorough mental calculations. "My best guess… is about five days."

**A/N: Sorry for the shortest chapter ever, but I thought that was a good place to leave off, plus I had to look at a map and do some serious guesswork as to where some bases would be. Did I select a good set of fighters for the mission to Sound Village? And who was expecting a potential meeting with Drakmus again so soon? This could get ugly…**

**I will close the poll tomorrow on who to pair Karin with. There seems to be an overwhelming majority of votes for a relationship with Suigetsu, a little for Jugo and none for Kimimaro, except for one request from a reviewer, but you need to go to my profile to vote, not just review. I am a little disappointed that there is almost no chance of Kimimaro winning, so I will have to find another potential pairing for him. He will have a clan to restore after all. Any ideas?**

**I am still on the fence with the idea of giving Naruto the Rinnegan, though I am leaning towards the side of doing so. My final decision will come next chapter, though he won't get it for a while yet, but someone else also brought up an interesting idea in a review, though it seems a little iffy to me. Sasuke could have possibly gotten some of Naruto's blood in his own stream during the transfusion, though that blood would probably just gone back to Naruto via the medical jutsu Felix used. But there is still the possibility of trace amounts, so the idea of giving Sasuke the Rinnegan as well is also on the fence, but leaning the opposite way as the thought of giving Naruto the Rinnegan. Let me know what you guys think of that as well!**

**So read, submit any final votes on the pairing you may have, and review! I felt a little short on the last chapter, so please review this one a little more!**


	27. Chapter 26: Unforeseen Complications

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: This chapter will cover the rescue of Suigetsu and Jugo, and the collision course Naruto and his team have with Drakmus as Sasori is intent on making Kimimaro one of his puppets. Can the Kaguya be saved from Sasori and his own despair?**

**Chapter 26: Unforeseen Complications**

Other than a lot of swearing from Suigetsu when they tried to convince him to join the Leaf until Zabuza promised to train him a little if he did, and Karin punching him through the head when he suggested killing the other test subjects if they had the curse mark to save trouble (thank goodness for him that he can go into a liquid form), the Eastern base had few problems given to Naruto's group. Some Oto ninja had attacked them on the way, but they were no match for Naruto's group.

Sasuke had found the Hawk Summoning Contract and added his name to it before using it to summon a few large ones to take the experiments with curse marks back to Konoha for them. With that, they headed back out on the road.

Suigetsu had been given a weapon in case he needed to fight, and when Sasuke handed the white haired boy the blade, Naruto recognized it as the weapon that Drakmus had left behind during the previous fight he had with him. Suigetsu gave a few experimental swings and whistled appreciation when the small sword made a cut in a nearby boulder without even slowing in the swing. After checking the edge for nicks that were not there, he proceeded to bury it to the hilt in the rock, and once again, it sank right in without slowing. With a nod he sheathed it, saying, "It's not as big as I would like, but I can use it. It has quite an edge, and while it seems to be made of ordinary steel, something has been done to it that seriously increased its durability. I hate blades I have to waste time maintaining, but I should not have to sharpen this one too often."

"Good for you," Kin said. "And just for the record, a small sword suits you, with that scrawny body, I bet you could not carry a big blade for very long."

"What was that?!" Suigetsu shouted at her, and Sasuke hid a small smile, remembering the days of the future past when Suigetsu would complain about how tired he was after carrying around Kubikiribocho for long periods of time.

…

Kabuto rose from the medical gurney panting as the blood infused with Orochimaru's DNA spread throughout his body. It had been difficult to get the DNA he needed, since Orochimaru's body had been reduced to ashes, but Kabuto was able to find trace amounts of his former master's DNA as well as the DNA of his most recent host. Kabuto was sweating a little as his body took in the new genetic material.

He had been successful, despite the initial complications with recreating the piece of flesh he grafted into his body. It had taken several tries to cultivate a suitable level of cells from the scavenged genetic material over the past few days. But now, once he fully assimilated the genetic material, he would gain all of Orochimaru's former powers, including the Miraiyochigan. That would hopefully give him enough strength to get him recognized as a member of the Akatsuki, along with the return of Orochimaru's ring. In just a couple more days, Sasori and his partner would arrive to collect him and Kimimaru, starting Kabuto's new life in his quest for his identity.

…..

Kakashi stood motionlessly as he stood at the memorial stone, thinking on both the past and the future with his mistakes with Obito and Rin. He looked at Obito's name in particular, thinking it ironic that Obito had his name on the stone but was not dead and now a traitor.

"I wish I could have saved Rin," he said more to himself than anyone else. "But there is no changing the fact that she is gone… but now I know that you are alive and out there somewhere Obito. And if there is a way to save you, I will find it."

"Still on with the regrets?" a voice said behind him. He turned to see Ceilia walking towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked.

"Looking for you actually. You really need to learn to spend less time here thinking about things you can't change. Anyway, I was wondering if you cared to help me train a little. Ever since you had to save me from that hag, I realized that I am going to have to increase my chakra reserves and my skills if I want to use this extra peeper of mine effectively in combat."

"I see. Alright, I will be your sparring partner. You can meet me at my usual training grounds at noon."

"You mean at two right?"

"Officially the time will be noon," Kakashi chuckled lightly. Ceilia nodded and turned to leave, and Kakashi said, "I wasn't by the way."

"Wasn't what?"

"Thinking about things I couldn't change."

"I see. So you still plan on trying to help your former friend if you can, is that right?"

"I know that he is too dangerous now to take so lightly, and I have already convinced myself that I may have to kill him, but no matter how hard I try, I just can't stop toying with the hope that he can be saved."

"Felix feels the same way about someone else who is our enemy," Ceilia replied.

"Who is that?"

"A powerful man who once had the name Markus," Ceilia said before explaining the friendship Markus and Felix had once had when they were both growing up, and the reason behind the power Markus had. And then she told the story of how Markus had inexplicably come to hate Felix, and ultimately killed his father in cold blood, and changed his name to Drakmus. "To this day, no one, not even Felix knows what caused Markus's personality to suddenly change. Felix still tortures himself over what he could have done to prevent it, and what he could still do to help the one who had been closest to him. But through it all, he has forced himself to accept the possibility of being forced to kill Markus one day. He knows that if he were to spare Markus out of a friendship that no longer exists, he will be condemning Markus's future victims to die. But still he hopes, a little, that the kid Markus once was is still in there. What I am trying to say is this. If you see a hope of saving your friend, by all means take it, but do not let him survive should it fail, and do not let him endanger others that you could save."

"That will not be an easy thing to do. Several times in the future, I am ashamed to say I had many opportunities to end his life, but did not take them. Because every time I tried to land a killing blow, I would always hesitate, and the image of the Obito that I used to know flashed before my eyes."

"You will have to try Kakashi, should it come to the point he cannot be persuaded. It may well be that the kindest thing you could do for him is put him out of his misery."

…

Jugo had been somewhat problematic to bring along. He had been worried about leaving his cage due to the risk of potentially hurting his rescuers, but Sasuke had demonstrated that it was a simple matter to calm him down with his Sharingan, and Jugo was also eager when he heard that they intended to rescue Kimimaru as well.

What was more problematic was that there were over twenty subjects in the Northern Base with the curse mark, meaning Sasuke had to wear himself out a little summoning enough hawks to take the subjects back to Konoha. Of course, that was nothing to the work that Ceilia would have cut out for her.

"So hey, I wanted to ask you," Naruto said as he handed Sasuke a water canteen. "Why is it you want to sign the Snake Contract again, I mean, you already have hawks now."

"Snakes are a little better for combat in many cases, unless you need the maneuverability of a hawk," the raven haired boy replied. "So it is practical to have a wide range of options for battle. Not only that, but there is the relationship between hawks and snakes to consider."

"Don't they hate each other?"

"Yes they do. Which is why I want to try to get them to cooperate to a certain degree, at least when I have some members of both species summoned at once."

"I see. You want to try beating the hatred between two species, to prove to yourself that even the most deep seated hate can be overcome, right?"

"A little lofty when you put it like that. I would settle for having a few members of each species willing to set aside their differences under me. Trying it will be good practice for when I become Hokage."

Naruto suddenly started choking on the instant ramen he had brought along. Once he recovered, he said, "Hokage? Since when did _you _want that job?"

"Simple. I hope to be able to mend the rift between my clan and the village. Trying to reconcile a few snakes and hawks ought to be child's play compared to that."

"Oh, and you don't think I am capable of mending that rift when I take the hat? Because I will tell you now, you won't beat me to that finish line!"

"I know that you are capable of doing what I need to do, but I can't have you doing everything for me, can I?"

"Says the moron who jumped in front of a Bijuu Bomb from the freaking Jyuubi to save my hide! If anything, I still owe you for that!"

"Please don't remind me of that, getting hit by that blast hurt like hell. And the whole dying part was not exactly pleasant either. But while we are on the subject of who owes who what, you already paid that debt by saving my clan this time around."

"Only to get right back into your debt when you took that kunai in your gut! Honestly, do you have any idea how bad an experience that was for me, seeing you save me _again _like that, when the last time got you killed?"

"It wasn't exactly pleasant for me either." They shared a small laugh at this before Naruto and Sasuke went back to the tent they shared with Itachi for the night. Tomorrow they would arrive at the main base where they would find Kimimaru and hopefully get him to come back to Konoha with them, and they would need a good night's rest.

"Seriously, though, if you really want to be Hokage, you are gonna have to beat me," Naruto had to say.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

When they got to the tent, they found a mess inside. Someone *cough*Karin *cough* had gotten into Sasuke's laundry and taken one of his shirts, which had been drenched in sweat earlier that day when Sasuke had done the tiring endeavor of summoning the hawks. "She's a complete maniac!" Sasuke said in exasperation while Naruto was laughing his ass off at the situation and his friend's misfortune. Weeping anime tears, Sasuke turned to Naruto and asked desperately, "Do you think she'd leave me alone if I stabbed her again?"

"I doubt it," Naruto said. "If she is that crazy for you, she would probably forgive you in a heartbeat and write it off as tough love."

"I wouldn't find it so funny if I were you. You're actually related to her!"

Naruto paled when he realized that Sasuke was right. However distantly, he had a fan girl who put the old Sakura and Ino to shame related to him. **Hahahaha, I believe that they call this the tables having turned!" **Kurama gasped between fits of laughter.

_"Shut up Kurama."_

…..

"Are the tools I requested to add to the Kaguya puppet ready yet?" Sasori asked Drakmus as the latter examined one of the weapons before nodding at the weapon and looking at Sasori with a slight frown.

"I told you five times already, it will be done by tomorrow, then we can go collect the specimen," Drakmus replied as he set another lump of steel on Hellfire. "As it happens, I only have three more to make. The wait will be worth it, I can promise that."

…..

The next day, Kabuto was having a few problems with the grafting of Orochimaru's DNA. The genetic material was trying to take him over completely, resulting in bit of an internal struggle that he was winning for now. He hoped he would be able to keep Orochimaru's consciousness at bay until he learned to control his power.

His concerns were only added on when one of the seals he had put up outside the base activated an alarm, signaling intruders having crossed one of the boundary lines the seals were a part of. With a frown, he checked one of the security monitors to see that just outside the base, there were fifteen people, several of whom he recognized right away. Sasuke, Itachi, Anko, Naruto, and the rest of his group had arrived.

Kabuto cursed. He knew he would not stand a chance against several of these ninja, let alone a whole group of them at once. Maybe if he had full control over his former master's power, he could hold his own against a good portion of the group, but that was a big maybe. He decided he would have avoid the group for now, at least until Sasori and his partner got here.

….

"See any traps?" Zabuza asked Itachi and the latter activated his Sharingan.

"A few. It seems we have already tripped one that was well hiden that set off an alarm to our presence.

Felix entered Sage Mode and felt around. "I feel several chakras in there, one of them rather powerful, but of little threat against all of us and retreating. It probably belongs to Kabuto, though there is another malevolent chakra in addition to his, similar to Orochimaru's." He glanced at Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi at this, and they nodded. It seemed that Kabuto had grafted Orochimaru's DNA into himself again. "Of course, he is retreating right now, which is good, he knows he can't beat all of us, even with the help of the few remaining Sound ninja here. This country really is in turmoil."

"All right, in we go then!" Naruto declared as he made his clones and they rushed into the entrance. Everyone else soon followed and after that, one clone dispelled, telling Naruto where Kimimaro was, and the blonde beckoned to Jugo. They left the rest of the group to go to the last Kaguya.

Kin led the way to the block where other people were kept, shivering all the while. This place was full of memories that were unpleasant to her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped before she turned to see Haku. "You alright?" the boy asked her.

She nodded nervously. "I'll be fine. This place just gives me the chills, that's all. I never could get used to it living in this place while I was here." Haku nodded and they kept moving.

Sasuke went straight for one of the cells and entered a code he remembered from his time here in the future. The door slid open and Kin stared. "How did you know the code to that door? Orochimaru kept that sort of thing a tight secret, he only let that freak Kabuto know it."

Sasuke shrugged as the prisoner stepped out. "I have my means," he replied carelessly. He checked the prisoner for a curse seal and let him know he was free when he did not find one. He then opened other cell doors one by one, finding only three curse mark bearers, and he had them stick around until he could send them back with hawks.

"I hope that this is not some sick joke of Orochimaru's," a young man named Genyumaru said to Sasuke once he was set free and shown to lack a curse mark. He looked vaguely familiar to Sasuke, before he realized that he was the last host body the snake had had before he tried to take Sasuke's.

"It's not," Sasuke assured him. "You are genuinely free to go. So is your clan, once we get to their block."

"Then you have my gratitude, but I am not sure where we will go from here," Genyumaru said.

"Well, this is their decision, but I am certain Konoha would welcome you," Itachi said.

"That may well work if we all agree to it."

….

Kimimaro sensed two people enter his room, but did not react in the slightest. Nothing mattered to him right now, though he was surprised when he heard the familiar voice ask tentatively, "Kimimaro?"

"What are you doing here Jugo?" the Kaguya asked as he sat up, the tags on his face falling free. He ignored Naruto as he looked at his old friend.

"We are here to take you to another home," Jugo said. "Now that Orochimaru is dead, we need to leave."

"Go yourself," Kimimaro said as he laid back down. "Orochimaru was the only reason I had for living. Now that he has fallen, there is no more point to my existence. I am now just a tool with no wielder."

"Don't give me that crap," Naruto said as he gave a hard look at Kimimaro. "You are not some mindless servant or weapon of that bastard, whatever you think. You are a person, one whose loyalty Orochimaru did not deserve." Naruto then found himself ducking a blow from an irritated Kimimaro, who had leapt from his bed, heedless of his illness, and attacked Naruto.

"Don't you dare insult Orochimaru-sama!" Kimimaro said coldly as he threw a few more blows at Naruto who was barely able to avoid all of them.

"Kimimaro, please stop!" Jugo cried and Kimimaro listened somewhat reluctantly.

"Just go," he told the two of them as he laid back down. "I am worthless now. Even if I were willing to transfer my loyalty to someone lesser than Orochimaru, I no longer am in the condition to be of use to anyone. My existence is pointless now."

"You're right, with an attitude like that, you are worthless," Naruto said, earning a glare from Kimimaro and a shocked look from Jugo. "Giving up like that before you are dead. You don't even know if Tsunade will be able to heal you or not. If you came to Konoha, I would bet she could cure you."

"I don't care. As I said, without Orochimaru-sama, I have no desire to continue with my existence," Kimimaru stated.

"You're pathetic," Naruto said coldly.

"And what would you know? The one person who acknowledged me is now dead, so I may as well cease to exist myself."

"You're wrong. You have someone else who cares for you, and he is in this room with us right now," he turned to Jugo before looking back at Kimimaro. "And I do know how it feels to be ignored by others, and I can understand wanting to do anything for those who care for you, when others shun you. But Orochimaru never cared for you as a person. Beyond your usefulness to him, you meant one thing to him. Nothing."

"SHUT UP!" Kimimaro bellowed as he shot out of his bed again and charged Naruto in a blind rage, several bones emerging from under his skin. Naruto avoided Kimimaro's first few attacks before one caught him in the gut and threw him against the wall.

"Kimimaro, don't!" Jugo cried but this time he was ignored as Kimimaro held Naruto up by the throat.

"I will not tolerate you if you continue to speak ill of Orochimaru-sama!" Kimimaro shouted at Naruto, who just glared at Kimimaro.

"You don't get it. Whatever relationship you had with Orochimaru does not even compare to the friendship you have with Jugo, and yet you let that false bond blind you to the real one."

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Kimimaro shouted and a sharp bone slid out of his wrist and he thrust it forward to impale Naruto. When the blonde made no move to defend himself, Kimimaro's sense of honor kicked in and he stopped, the bone blade inches from Naruto's torso. With a snarl, Kimimaro threw Naruto to the side and dashed at the blonde. "Fight back, damn you!" he shouted but Naruto only moved to try to avoid Kimimaro's attacks. "FIGHT BACK!"

"No," Naruto replied as he got clipped in the side of the head and slammed against the wall. "For one thing, you are currently ill and not at your best, for another, I have problems raising my hand against someone who has been used his whole life, and finally, I don't think Jugo would be able to handle it if I were to attack you. He cares for you far more than that snake bastard ever did, you just refuse to see how close the two of you are."

"Never once have I denied being friends with Jugo," Kimimaro snarled.

"Then why the hell do you intend to abandon him in this world by dying?" Naruto demanded as he got up. Kimimaro froze at this. "You really think your death will solve your issues? Maybe it would if it was just your life, but it's not. Your life belongs to Jugo. He is willing to do anything for you, and you should be willing to do anything for him. But instead, you wasted your devotion on someone who wouldn't have done a damn thing for you if it did not benefit him in the slightest."

"Shut up about Oro-,"

"No, you will listen to me. What did Orochimaru do for you exactly when you fell ill and he found out that you could not be cured? Nothing. He instead directed all of his efforts to trying to take someone else, someone who happens to be my friend. The moment you became useless, you were discarded without a second thought. What kind of father figure does that? Did he even once thank you for your dedication? Meanwhile, you have someone who was concerned for your well being this entire time, and all you cared about was serving that pathetic excuse for a human being who called himself a god."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Kimimaro screamed and attacked Naruto again, only for a heavy impact to hit him in the side and blast him through the wall.

"That's enough!" Jugo shouted as his hand reverted back to normal. "Kimimaro, please, just stop…"

Panting, Kimimaro got up and stared at Jugo as if seeing him clearly for the first time. "Jugo, stay out of this."

"I can't! Don't you see, Naruto is right! Orochimaru has done nothing but give false promises to those beneath him! He swore to cure my rages, but all he has done was confine me to keep me from doing harm and use my power for his own ends! He took both of us in, but he cared nothing for us!"

Somehow the words struck Kimimaro hard when they were said by Jugo, but he still argued, "Orochimaru-sama told me he tried, but he was not able to cure you…"

"No, all he did with his research on me was to figure out how to replicate my condition in the form of those curse seals. Not once had he even tried to do as he promised and cure my rages."

This news was almost too much for Kimimaro's mind. He himself had been the one to convince Jugo to allow Orochimaru to experiment on him in hopes of curing him. If what Jugo said was true, then Orochimaru truly had betrayed him, abused his trust in him.

"Kimimaro, please, just come back to Konoha, and Tsunade may be able to cure you," Jugo said pleadingly.

"Just leave me here," Kimimaru said as he leaned back against the wall and sat down, his illness sapping his strength now that he lost the will to move. Orochimaru's betrayal was too much to bear for him. "If I truly did help Orochimaru trick you, then I really am trash and deserve to die."

"Like hell we will!" Naruto said, and Jugo picked Kimimaro up, slinging one of the Kaguya's arms around his shoulders. "I won't leave you behind, not when we can still help you. I swear right now, that I'm going to save your life, and help you find a new road. And I won't break that promise, and I never go back on my word. That is my nindo, my ninja way!"

Kimimaro looked at Naruto with interest, actually daring to hope at this point. There was something about this boy, something that made Kimimaro want to continue existing. They stepped out of the base into the sunlight. "Okay," Naruto said. "We should wait for the others to finish their task here."

"Small world," a chillingly familiar voice said behind the trio. "I did not expect to see you again so soon, Kyuubi brat…"

**A/N: Cliffhanger Jutsu! Alright, the poll for the pairing of Karin has closed people! I don't have any new ones out, so don't waste time checking my profile! And the winner is Suigetsu in case you are all wondering! Shame, I was kind of hoping for Kimimaru to win, but now I have to find another pairing for him. Once again, any ideas?**

**On another note, I have decided that I ****_will _****be giving Naruto the Rinnegan in a much later chapter. I hope that doesn't piss off too many people.**

**And finally… please review! I am a little miffed about only having 5 for last chapter. And a word of warning, a continued lack of reviews could well lead to a lack of motivation to update daily. Sorry to rant.**


	28. Chapter 27: Struggle with the Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: So now we will have a battle between Naruto and Drakmus again, while Jugo and Kimimaro try to fight Sasori. Can they survive?**

**Chapter 27: Struggle With the Past**

"That the last of them?" Sasuke asked as he counted four more curse seals to deal with, making a total of seven from this base. He was confused as to why four prison cells were empty in this last block, when the roster said the block had been full.

"Yes, that should be all of the prisoners, at least the ones I know of," Kin said. "Then again, he was a rather secretive bastard, so he may have a few more secret prison blocks hidden."

"Wouldn't put it past him," Genyumaru piped up. "We should check around the base one more time to be sure."

"Alright, but let's be quick about it," Sasuke said. "I don't like leaving Naruto alone too long, he has the tendency to get himself into some deep trouble when he doesn't have someone to keep an eye on him, and Jugo can get pretty scary when his fits happen, so sending Naruto off with him was likely not the best idea."

"Oh, give him a break," Haku said. "I mean, he may get into some troubling situations at times, but have a little faith. I doubt that Jugo could do much damage to Naruto before he calmed down, I mean, it's Naruto we're talking about. And his luck outside of gambling shouldn't be _that_ shitty to get into worse trouble."

…..

_"Why is my luck outside of gambling so shitty?" _Naruto mentally demanded to Kami. "Jugo, take Kimimaro and back away. I will handle these two!"

"Handle both of us?" Drakmus chuckled. "You were unable to defeat me one on one last time, and even when Felix came to help you, you still needed the help of a third person to drive me away the last time. And now this time, you expect to take on me and my partner? Don't be a fool." Drakmus drew his sword and pointed it at Naruto.

"Drakmus is correct," Sasori said from inside his new Hiruko puppet. "You can't beat us. So you with the orange spiky hair, how about you drop my new human puppet, the Kaguya, and leave the jinchuriki. I have nothing against letting you go, if you cooperate."

"Jugo, put me down," Kimimaro said. "I have no intention of surrendering to this group."

"You can't fight, Kimimaro, you will kill yourself if you push yourself now," Jugo said. "Just try to find some cover so we don't have to fight while watching out for you." He set Kimimaro down, and Kimimaro staggered a little before he shook his head.

"Sorry Jugo, but I am not leaving you to fight these guys," he said and forced his body to stand.

"Good, I have no intention of letting you get away," Sasori said. "This trip will be a great boon to us. Not only will we get what we came here for, but also one of the pieces we need to accomplish our goals. Luck is smiling down on us."

Kimimaro frowned. "I know you are here for me, to make into one of your weapons, but what piece of your goals do you mean?"

"Their organization is after Bijuu and I'm a jinchuriki," Naruto said shortly. "Kimimaro, can you make a ninjato with your ability?" The Kaguya nodded and pulled one from his arm and handed it to Naruto. "Well, it's no Arashikatta, but it should work. You two take care of the puppet guy if you insist on fighting and I will try to hold off his partner until our friends realize something is up and come to help us." With that, he launched two Hiraishin kunai at Drakmus, who deflected them, and Naruto charged, making several Shadow Clones as he went, and Drakmus leapt back a good distance, with Naruto following, leaving Sasori to face Kimimaro and Jugo.

"Listen Jugo, don't let any of Sasori's attacks hit you," Kimimaro warned. "Sasori used to be Orochimaru's partner, so I know that he uses poison. Even the slightest scratch could turn deadly."

With no warning, Sasori thrust his tail forward, this new Hiruko model having a black one. Kimimaro put himself between the tail and Jugo, and blocked it with a few of his bones. Sasori pulled the cloth from his puppet's mouth and shot a steel ball from the mouth of the puppet at Kimimaro, who jumped away before noticing a chakra string attached to the ball before it released several kunai, shuriken and senbon, all of which changed direction and went straight for Kimimaro, who found himself deflecting every one that came at him somewhat frantically. He deduced that the steel ball was hollow and had several mechanisms that fired the weapons after they were released from storage seals inside the thing in multiple directions, and the chakra string split off inside the ball to attach itself to every one of the weapons.

Sasori fired off the left arm of Hiruko at Kimimaro and it went off, all of the wooden projectiles exploding outward, and the Kaguya was forced to enter the first state of his curse seal to deflect all of the ones that came in his direction while warding off the weapons controlled from the ball. "HA HA HA, DIE!" Jugo shouted as he went berserk and charged Sasori, who thrust his tail at Jugo again, only for it to be knocked aside by Jugo and Sasori fired poisoned senbon at the berserker, who formed a chakra cannon and blasted them all out of the way before his arm formed into an axe and he smashed the appendage into the Hiruko, shattering it.

Sasori jumped out of his ruined puppet before unveiling his true looks and showing mild irritation. "Well, it seems that this will be much more difficult than I expected," he said as he pulled out a scroll. "But then, it would not do if my next candidate for a puppet was not a challenge, now would it? And your friend also interests me. Perhaps he will make a decent piece of art as well."

Kimimaro scowled at the thought of Jugo being made into a puppet. Before he could respond, a familiar figure jumped down next to Sasori as the latter unsealed the Sandaime Kazekage. "Need some help Sasori?" Kabuto asked.

"What are you doing Kabuto?" Kimimaro asked before he frowned as he saw that Kabuto's left hand was scaled and clawed, and his left eye had a black ring around it with the iris having turned yellow with a slit pupil. He realized that the bastard must have implanted Orochimaru's DNA into himself.

"Yes, some assistance would be welcome Kabuto," Sasori replied as he and the puppet Kazekage got ready to fight.

"All right then, Miraiyochigan!" Kabuto declared as his left eye took on the crimson sclera, and his pupil turned maroon with a golden x iris.

"What is that?" Jugo asked Kimimaro as he took in the dojutsu and Kimimaro cursed as he saw it.

"It's a dojutsu Orochimaru acquired a while ago before he fled the Akasuki," Kimimaro stated. "It allows the holder to see brief flashes of the future, as long as it is something the eye would see during that future. There are times when it can't be used of course, so I should still be able to land a good hit every now and then. You take care of Sasori for me."

With that, Kimimaro rushed Kabuto and Jugo went berserk again to attack Sasori.

….

"Interesting," Sasuke said as he looked at a box he had found in the storage room of the base. It had a rather intricate seal on it, keeping it from being opened. He had already found and signed the Snake Summoning Contract and was now looking at other items of interest.

"That is something Orochimaru was able to acquire when he last visited Uzushiogakure to try scavenging a few things," Karin said. "Apparently, whatever is in that box is very valuable, for only the blood of at least three Uzumaki's can open it. Orochimaru expressed some serious regret that it could not be opened, for what was in it was one of the main reasons so many nations teamed up to destroy the Uzumaki clan, because they were afraid of what the contents of the box were capable of. But once he learned that the box couldn't be opened, he pretty much forgot about it."

_"Figures," _Sasuke thought with satisfaction, knowing that with Naruto and his family, the story would be different. _"Genius Orochimaru may have been, but he did have the habit of abandoning projects once they hit a seeming dead end. I bet he did not even think of capturing Naruto and his family to get this box open, he likely just forgot it existed. Well, this may well be a good find."_ He had no idea just how right he was.

"Should we get back to the rendezvous?" Anko asked. "We pretty much got all that we came here for and then some."

"You're right," Itachi said. "Karin, would you mind checking to see if Naruto is at the rendezvous yet?"

"You got it," Karin replied as she activated her Mind's Eye of the Kagura. Her eyes widened. "Uh, guys, I think we may be in trouble… I can sense a few hostile chakras fighting against Jugo and someone else I am guessing is Kimimaro. Not only that, but I can sense Naruto against someone with outrageous chakra levels that I can't wrap my head around."

Felix entered Sage Mode and his eyes widened. "Shit…"

…..

Naruto and Drakmus were so far going toe to toe with their kenjutsu, having taken the fight a short distance away from the other combatants. Drakmus was very skilled and was forcing a stalemate by defeating everyone of Naruto's clones that were sent at him, but the original not getting hit. Eventually however, he was able to backhand a Naruto and when it did not dispel, he circled and charged the blonde from behind. Naruto formed two Rasengans, and Drakmus smirked. _"Go ahead, those are not powerful enough to hurt me, and you don't have enough time to form clones to add elemental chakra. I win." _ What Drakmus did not know was that Naruto did have seven clones hiding in wait, three of them gathering Sage Chakra, with four about to Hiraishin. And Naruto had the seals on the back of his hands.

Drakmus's eyes widened as Naruto dispelled a clone to enter Sage Mode and four clones flashed to the original, two on each side and they quickly formed a Solid Rasenshuriken in each of the original's hands. Drakmus was even more shocked when chakra chains that Naruto sent into the ground from the soles of his feet discretely burst from the ground and restrained him momentarily. He broke free, but momentarily was enough for Naruto to throw the Solid Rasenshurikens, and they both slammed into Drakmus's chest, which he morphed to take the blows. He was thrown back as Naruto ran after him, another clone dispelling to help him go back into Sage Mode, and his four other clones helping him form two more of his earth and wind element Rasengans. Before the explosion of the first two died entirely, Naruto threw the next two, and they blasted into Drakmus again, throwing him further back, Naruto still chasing and pressing his advantage.

"One more round!" he shouted as he threw the last two, and once again, Drakmus was unable to recover fast enough to avoid the attacks. The moment the last two Rasenshurikens left his hands, Naruto formed the familiar seal to create nearly thirty Shadow Clones, while the four that helped him form the six attacks before threw a Hiraishin kunai for each clone present, and they each formed a Rasengan. Drakmus rose as the dust settled, fully transformed at this point, and totally pissed as well.

"You little-," he started but stopped when he saw the kunai all around him, and the clones all flashed to his location, the Rasengans all increased in size.

"Giant Rasen Tarengan!" the mutual shout came from all the clones as the barrage of Giant Rasengans slammed into Drakmus from all sides.

"Huuuuurggghhhhhh!" Drakmus snarled at each impact. Now he was getting mad. The Giant Rasengans were not powerful enough to draw blood from his hide, but he could still bruise a little. While the barrage did its work, the real Naruto rushed forward with a three tailed cloak forming and eight arms helping him make two more Solid Rasenshurikens. Just as the Tarengan assault ended, Drakmus was face to face with Naruto, who rammed both Solid Rasenshurikens into his already battered torso.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Naruto growled as his chakra arms extended before the backlash could hit him, carrying Drakmus really far back before the attacks expanded. Drakmus actually screamed in pain as the attacks did their damage. A fatigued Naruto wasted no time in going down on all fours as the Version Two four tailed cloak fully formed.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Drakmus shouted as he rose, the hide on his chest having been torn rather badly after the repeated hits to it. Drakmus then coughed up a little blood, but it was clear that he was still capable of really fighting.

**"After all that, you can still fight?" **Naruto asked. **"You are something else."**

"Flattery will get you nowhere, brat," Drakmus said before they leapt at each other. Drakmus swung at Naruto, but the latter extended his tail and wrapped it around a tree and pulled himself out of the way. As Drakmus went by, Naruto smacked the demon in the back of the head as hard as he could by extending his arm. While the blow was horrific against almost all enemies, Drakmus was barely stunned before he whipped around and grabbed the arm and yanked Naruto to him. The four tailed boy flew forward, and Drakmus hit him with a double hammer blow, his lower set of hands coming up to hit Naruto's chin, and the upper set slamming down on top of his head at the same time.

Naturally, the impact almost shattered the boy's skull, but it held up and Naruto quickly made a Bijuu Bomb and blasted Drakmus at point blank range. The demon was able to get a knee up between the ball and his damaged torso, blocking the attack as it went off. Naruto was thrown back by the blast, and Drakmus flew at him as he sailed through the air, and slammed his two left elbows into Naruto's gut, causing him to choke up blood again and slam into the ground hard enough to leave a large crater.

Drakmus was about to follow up his assault, but a lightning wrapped wind slash came from the trees and cut diagonally into Drakmus's face. This knocked Drakmus back a little, bleeding slightly were the slash had hit, and he glared up at Naruto's savior. "Do you never quit Felix?" he demanded.

….

Jugo panted as his legs failed to support his weight. The iron sand of Sasori's puppet was too hard for him to avoid, and he realized that it had been soaked in Sasori's poison, after receiving several cuts. "I am truly impressed that you managed to last this long, especially with my specially made venom running through your system," Sasori remarked. "I think I _will_ add you to my collection." That was the last thing Jugo heard before he blacked out.

"Jugo!" Kimimaro shouted before he had to dodge another chakra scalpel strike from Kabuto. That Miraiyochigan was a very annoying thing to go up against, since Kabuto could see everything Kimimaro was going to do and avoid accordingly, while backing off and using defensive earth style moves when each ten seconds was up.

Of course, that was not enough to stop a determined Kimimaro when he entered Second State and formed his bone spear to pierce through an earth barrier. Once he did so, he was able to impale a surprised Kabuto, and fling him away. But then it was Kimimaro's turn to be surprised when Kabuto got up, the hole in his torso closing at an alarming rate. Growling, Kimimaro charged again, but Kabuto's eye kicked in again and he was able to avoid all of Kimimaro's attacks fairly easily before he summoned a snake from his sleeve, which bit Kimimaro on the arm, only for its fangs to break when Kimimaro created a bone shell.

Too late, Kimimaro recognized the diversion and turned to see the iron sand wrap around him, completely encasing him in it. "Good work, Kabuto," Sasori said. "Now that we captured the Kaguya, we should make sure Drakmus-," he did not finish because Kimimaro broke free of the sand with brute force and roared before he slashed Kabuto with two bone blades.

Sasori snarled but before he could do anything, they were suddenly interrupted by the shout of, "Fire Style: Blazing Explosion Sphere Jutsu!" He looked up in time to see a blood red skinned woman with horns and long dark purple hair fire off the jutsu from her mouth, and force Sasori back. He groaned as he saw the rest of Naruto's group arrive, minus Felix. Xackary and Borace in particular glared at Kabuto, who once again healed. The woman who used the fire style attack's skin glowed and receded, leaving the skin color normal and the hair shortened to its usual length, to show it was Anko.

Kabuto quickly jumped back as Hana and her triplet dogs used the Fang over Fang against him. He was then forced to duck when Borace charged him, shouting, "Third Gate, Gate of Life, Open!" Borace's skin turned red and he swung his axe at Kabuto who had trouble dodging, despite his Miriayochigan being active.

Meanwhile, Sasori called forth his hundred puppets, backing most of the rest of the group into a wall. Sasuke quickly bit his thumb and made some hand signs before slapping his palm to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" there was a loud burst of smoke, and Sasuke was standing on the head of a snake that was almost as large as Manda had been, and looked somewhat similar, only he was a dark green color, and had only two horns, as well as a small hood.

"Huh? How can a kid like you summon Codra, the newly named Boss summon of snakes?" the serpent asked as he focused his gaze on the Uchiha on his head** (A/N: Who can guess where I came up with that name for the snake?)**.

"I'm not just some kid, my name is Sasuke Uchiha, and we don't have time for this right now, we have a few enemies to take care of," Sasuke said as he blasted three of the puppets with a fireball jutsu.

Codra started to laugh and smashed nearly ten with his tail. "Straight to the point, I like that. Alright, I normally demand a price for summoning, but since you impressed me by summoning me at your age, I will give you a freebie this time. Of course, we will have to discuss terms for future summonings after this."

"Just as long as you don't demand human sacrifices," Sasuke said and Codra snorted before he went underground and attempted to eat Sasori by coming up from under him, only for the puppet master to narrowly escape before firing some poison senbon at Codra, but with a natural poison resistance, plus his size, it did not really bother Codra.

"Don't worry about that, most of us never did understand that snob's taste for humans," Codra said as he pursued Sasori, smashing some more puppets as he went and laughing off the cuts their blades did to him.

"I think we had better retreat Sasori," Kabuto said as he got next to the puppet master and the air behind them cracked.

"Agreed," Sasori replied and they hastily backed into the rift that Drakmus had taught Sasori how to make, narrowly avoiding a Rasenlance Sasuke threw at them.

"Damn, that's the third time that move was used to escape from me," Sasuke cursed as he reverted to his normal state.

Codra looked at Sasuke and groaned. "Great, just as I was starting to like, you, you go and show me a curse mark from that Orochimaru. That bastard summoned more of my kind than I can count as sacrificial shields. I am one of the snakes who refused to work with him for that reason."

"Don't worry, Orochimaru is dead now, and this curse mark no longer has his mind in it. And I was never one of his servants, he was just after me for my body and forced the seal on me." This explanation seemed to mollify Codra.

Shizune immediately went to Jugo and Kimimaru collapsed, coughing as his illness reasserted himself, and he too returned to normal as his seal receded. Hana immediately rushed to his aid and used her medical ninjutsu to try to diagnose the issue. "Haven't seen anything like this," she muttered after a few minutes. "There is a large amount of tissue death in his body, and it seems to be caused by a toxin his marrow is producing for some reason. Perhaps it's a mutation of his Kekkei Genkai with adverse effects? At any rate, it's amazing he is still alive, let alone fighting."

"Allow me," Xackary said. When Hana looked up at him, he explained, "One of my techniques allows me to revive dead cells, so I can heal the damage caused so far by his condition, though I won't be able to cure it." Hana nodded and Xackary's hands glowed with a purple energy as he started to run them over Kimimaro's body.

Meanwhile Shizune was able to remove most of Sasori's poison from Jugo, and he showed some signs of immediate improvement, though Shizune said she would need an antidote to cure the trace amounts left in his system, so she went back into the base to get some of Orochimaru's medical supplies to see if he had what she needed to make one.

….

"Damn you Felix, stop interfering!" Drakmus shouted at his former friend, who stood next to Naruto.

"I still don't understand," Felix said to Drakmus. "Why are you doing this? I really thought that we were friends in those days… what could have possibly changed you?"

"You are still playing dumb huh?" Drakmus snarled. "That friendship was never real. It was a farce that you and Kyle had gone with, just because your father ordered it. You and your brother were never really my friends, it was a lie!"

"Who told you this? Was it Victor?" Naruto just stood there, not knowing what Felix was talking about, but deciding not to butt into this talk. "You should have realized by now, Victor was a lying sleaze ball. You can't trust anything he ever told you."

"I didn't believe what he said back then," Drakmus growled. "It was what you said that opened my eyes to the lie!" he declared as he charged Felix in a rage.

"That makes no sense!" Felix responded and he blocked both of Drakmus's right claws on Elemental Infinity before jumping back. "I never said anything that meant we were not-,"

"Don't. You. Lie. To. ME!" Drakmus shouted as he followed Felix, lashing out with all of his limbs in a blind rage. "I heard everything you told Kyle that day!" He was interrupted when Naruto, who he had forgotten about, came behind him and used his extended chakra arms to grab all four of Drakmus's arms and halt his charge, giving Felix the chance to rush forward and stab Drakmus through the gut. Drakmus roared before he shook both of his enemies off and leapt into the rift he was quick to open.

Felix and Naruto watched him go and Naruto turned to Felix as he reverted to human form. "Do you want to tell me what happened between you two?" Naruto asked, panting as the chakra exhaustion hit him full force once Kurama's cloak fully receded.

Felix nodded sadly and told Naruto everything he knew about the relationship between him and Drakmus, and Drakmus's descent into darkness. "I still don't know why he came to hate me with no warning," he finished. "And I certainly don't know what he meant by what I said to Kyle, my older brother. This is the first I've heard of it, and I am drawing a blank when I try to remember anything he might have meant."

"We can figure it out later, let's get back to the group."

….

When they got back, they saw Xackary was still working on Kimimaro and Shizune was missing, and Karin was quick to explain why. Naruto plopped down against a tree with a sigh, and Sasuke walked up to him. "You all right?"

"Yeah, just seriously exhausted," Naruto replied. "That Drakmus, he is really tough. I only held my own this time by outwitting him and catching him in a barrage of my strongest attacks, and even then, I would have lost again eventually if it were not for Felix."

"Well, this should perk you up a bit," Sasuke said and he gave Naruto a box, which the blonde saw the seal on and raised an eyebrow.

"What's this?"

"Oh, just a little something that Orochimaru had taken from the home of some of your ancestors, and apparently, Orochimaru thought it was something special. Of course, it's tightly sealed and only the blood of at least three Uzumaki's can open it, but we have that at home right?"

"Great, now the trip back will seem longer with something like this to look forward to," Naruto grumbled as he put the case into his pack before nodding off.

**A/N: So the battle has ended quickly, but I hope it was enjoyable nonetheless. Putting Hiraishin seals on the back of Naruto's hands to surprise his enemy with the two element Rasengans was a genius idea wasn't it? **

**Who is looking forward to seeing what is inside that box? It will be something beneficial to two certain brothers, but that will have to wait until next chapter. Next time, we also learn who made the rank of chunin (yes, it's in the bag for Naruto and Sasuke, there would have to be something seriously wrong with me if I decided otherwise). Who can guess who else will get the rank?**

**I want to inform all of you who gave me a few ideas for Kimimaro's pairing, that I will not be using the anime fillers or movies for this story, just the manga, because that is my main source of Naruto, and the continuity would confuse me if I tried to do much else. Sorry about that!**

**I am would also like to note to that I did intend to give Naruto the ability to shut off the Rinnegan at will, unlike Nagato. It would be a shame to rob Hinata of his blue eyes… you can remove the kunai from my neck now Hinata… please? What's with Kishimoto's characters threatening me all the time?**

**So please review! I am starting to get rather annoyed that my last few chapters seem to lack reviews. To those of you who haven't been reviewing, QUIT SLACKING OFF! If I have to start holding chapters hostage, it won't be fair to those who have been reviewing my story, now will it?**


	29. Chapter 28: A Legendary Seal

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Sorry for the delayed updates, I have been stuck pulling weeds all weekend. So the team returns to Konoha, for a breather after their battles with the Akatsuki and Raizen's best fighter. What will the future hold for them?**

**Chapter 28: A Legendary Seal**

"So as I said, I won't be demanding human sacrifices from you, because I really don't like the taste of them," Codra was saying to Sasuke. "Plus the clothing they all wear gives me indigestion. Most snakes don't eat humans, at least not often, unless they end a fight that way. Of course, there are some who have that taste, and then there are snakes who will just eat anything, and those seemed to be the kinds Orochimaru favored. As for Manda, let's just say I am not sure he ate humans for the taste. The fool had a serious superiority complex, and he probably felt big about eating so many of the species that dominated the globe, though mainly through sheer numbers. Idiot."

"Okay, so what is it you want for your services?" Sasuke asked.

"Cows work just fine for me, they are more filling and are almost as tasty as the creatures I have to hunt. Plus you humans seem to have quite a few in supply wherever I go. So each time you summon me for a fight, I want ten cows as compensation, twenty if I get hurt more than I would like."

"That it? With your size, that would hardly fill you up."

Codra snorted. "True, but I don't want to become too lazy to hunt my own food all the time. There's no fun in that. On another note though, I smell the scent of hawks on you," Codra said with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "If you can get a hawk to fight alongside me with no issues, I won't start anything, but I will want the number of cows doubled after such fights. I hate hawks, they are such stuck up pricks who think they are so hot because they can fly, while we crawl on our bellies on the ground."

Sasuke nodded at that. Codra seemed to be far more civil that the snakes he and Orochimaru had used in the past timeline, and was easier than Sasuke had expected to convince to work with his other summoning species. Of course, he still had to work with Akaitori, the dark red boss summoning for hawks, but he hoped they could work fairly well together. When he had summoned her to carry a few of the more difficult curse sealed subjects, he had mentioned the Snake Summoning Contract and her eyes had narrowed, but she did not say anything at the time.

"All right then, I think our partnership will work, so I will just be going for now," Codra said before he vanished in a puff of smoke.

….

The trip back to Konoha was uneventful enough. Naruto and Genyumaru had gotten along fairly quickly, the latter being a rather polite individual unless he was angered. They also had about twenty members of the man's clan following along, all of them agreeing to join the Hidden Leaf Village. Genyumaru was a little miffed when he was told he would have to start off as a genin, since he had no previous official shinobi training, not even by the standards of the Sound Village, but he decided he would just have to prove his skills and earn his promotions.

Kimimaro was feeling better than he had in a long while, thanks to the tissue that Xackary had revived in him, though he knew his disease was far from cured. The damage it had done had just been reversed for the time being. Nonetheless, it would be a little while before it weakened him again, and he was able to move under his own steam now.

When they arrived in Konoha, all of the people who had been brought from Oto were escorted by ANBU to the Hokage's building, and Itachi went with them to file the mission report. Naruto sighed in relief that he could relax and headed right for his favorite stand. Sasuke just went to his own private training grounds saying he had something to take care of. The rest of the group simply went their separate ways.

Naruto was just enjoying his twelfth bowl when he heard a scream of, "HHHHEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPP!" Naruto turned his head and saw Konohamaru running from around the corner in a panic.

"What's up Konohamaru?" Naruto asked him. "Did you prank my mom in a way that made her seem old or fat again?"

"No!" Konohamaru shouted. "You've gotta hide me! I've got f-f-f-f-f-fa-fan-,"

"Konohamaru-kun!" a myriad of high pitched voices came from around the corner Konohamaru had just turned.

The boy paled and looked pleadingly at Naruto before mouthing, "Save me."

Thinking fast, Naruto grabbed the nearest trash can, which Teuchi had thankfully emptied earlier, and overturned it on Konohamaru, completely covering him. Sitting on top of the bottom of the can, Naruto saw a group of just over ten academy girls with hearts in their eyes turn the corner. When their eyes fell on Naruto, he pointed off in a random direction and they immediately charged down the street in that direction.

"Thanks," Konohamaru said as Naruto let him out.

"Sure thing. Just one question. How did you get fan girls?"

"I think it's because of that tree walking training you had me do boosting my reserves and control, and the fact that I am now top in my class. And I don't think that my relation to Jiji hurts that rep either."

Naruto winced in sympathy. "What you need is a girlfriend who can keep them at bay for you, one who is scary enough to tell them that you are taken and that they need to find someone else dote on." Then he had a sense of foreboding. "Speaking of which, have you seen Hinata-chan?"

"Naaarrruuuuuttoooooo-kuuuuuunnnnnn!"

"Shit, gotta go, see ya Konohamaru!" Naruto shouted as he downed his last bowl even faster than usual and ran from the pests that Hinata had yet to scare off.

"Get a girlfriend, yuck, I'm only nine," Konohamaru said to the fading dust cloud.

….

"Oh, so you think we hawks have superiority complexes do you?" A dark red female hawk twice the size of the one Sasuke had summoned to fight Danzo demanded to Codra. Sasuke had recently summoned the both of them to try getting them acquainted before he actually had to rely on their teamwork to win a fight. Obviously, that plan was quickly going downhill, and Akaitori continued, "Well, you snakes have no right to say that, because your kind seems to get a lot of satisfaction out of eating our fledglings before they even have the chance to fly, so don't complain about our attitudes!"

"So some of my kind are idiots, I never denied that," Codra retorted. "Some of us eat things to inflate their egos, but I so happen to be among the ones who happen to view eating as a means of surviving, nothing more, nothing less. Except for the rare occasion where my prey actually gives me a challenge, I get no satisfaction from my meals other than a full belly. Whenever I You hawks on the other hand seem to enjoy tormenting us whenever you catch us, carrying us through the air and lording over the fact that you have us helpless in your element. At least when I eat hawk fledglings, I get it over with quick."

"Ha, you ground crawlers should be grateful that you at least get to experience flight before you die, that is the only taste of it you could ever achieve, and besides, we do need to carry our prey to a safe spot before we eat it." Codra developed a tick mark at this, and Sasuke was meanwhile banging his head into a post, wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. "The only thing snakes could give hatchling hawks is the same fear of death they could get from any other predators before they are eaten. Just ask my nest mates, but oh wait, you can't because one of you bastards ate them!"

"And I have seen several of my siblings carried off by you overgrown winged rats, unable to escape. We could argue back and forth about the wrong doings of each of our species all day, but the fact remains that I hold no grudge for your kind simply eating mine, that's just nature. What I do not like, is when you hawks see the need to torture us before we are eaten, even if you could kill us on the spot."

"Says the bastard who kills things his size with a painful venom, and by strangulation!"

"True, but those in themselves are part of the killing mechanism, I got no way to change that, and I am not above putting prey and enemies out of their misery the moment I can. You guys on the other hand are more than capable of killing your prey the moment you have them, before flying off with them, but like I said, you seem to feel the need to display the fact that the sky's your domain."

Akaitora was about to retort when Sasuke sighed, "Alright, that is enough fighting, it's clear that you are not going to just get it out of your systems if I let this continue. I don't expect either of you to let go of your hatred for each other, and your species, but I do want you two to at least cooperate when I summon you both to a fight, though I will try to keep that to a minimum."

Both summons looked at him and Codra snorted. "Fine, just as long as she does not go overboard with the insults, and does not hinder me when I attack an enemy. And the increased price of cows still stands whenever I have to team with her."

"Ha, just like you snakes, you can't catch your own food unless it comes to you, or it can't flee," Akaitora stated, giving Codra three tick marks. "So Sasuke, I will see you later, and hopefully not the belly crawler so much."

"Bird-brain," Codra said right before Sasuke dismissed them in large bursts of smoke.

Sasuke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was clear that those two would probably never like each other, but at least he could trust them not to attack each other… hopefully. He turned to some bushes in the clearing and said, "You can come out now."

An ANBU stepped from the bushes and said, "Sorry Uchiha-san, but I got the feeling I should not interrupt their… conversation. At any rate, the Hokage requests that your presence at four this afternoon."

…

About three hours later, Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Lee, Tenten, Neji, Sakura, Shino, Kiba and Shikamaru were standing before Minato, Kushina, Itachi, Kurenai, Gai, Asuma and several other jonin. It was clear that they were here to see who had been promoted to chunin.

"I am glad you all made it," Minato said with a smile. "As you have all probably gathered, we are all here to give the promotions to all who have earned them after the showings we had the fortune to see. So without further ado," he cleared his throat. "Hinata Hyuuga, during your two matches, you have shown mastery of one of your clan's main abilities, the Kaiten, as well as an A rank jutsu of my own making, and Shadow Clones to boot. On top of that, you have actually adapted the Rasengan into a jutsu of your own style, and seem to have managed it within a short time frame, an impressive feat, even with clones to speed the process up. You have also shown quick thinking and were able to escape Gaara's unique abilities after being caught the first time. So I am happy to announce that you have advanced to the rank of chunin. He nodded to Kushina, who handed Hinata her vest.

"Way to go!" Naruto said to her with a thumbs up, and she blushed a little while she slipped her vest on.

"Next, we have Lee Rock. You have shown great aptitude for taijutsu, which you have mastered to a level of a low jonin, and you also impressed the judges by opening five gates. Unfortunately, that was all that was seen from you during your match, and they also noted that you had a reckless disregard for your own safety. I am sorry, but the judges have not deemed you ready for the rank of chunin."

Lee hung his head in disappointment, but Gai immediately said, "Do not worry Lee, I have no doubt you will get the rank next time, and if you do not, I will run 500 laps around the village on my hands and Tenten on my feet!"

"Please don't…" Tenten muttered, not wanting to "assist" Gai with another of his insane workouts.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted. "Thank you for your encouragement Gai-sensei! And if you cannot do that, I will-,"

"Moving on!" Minato wisely interjected before it could get to the unbreakable genjutsu point. "Sakura Haruno, during your match, you have shown an aptitude for defensive earth style jutsu, as well as genjutsu for diversions. You were also able to expertly maneuver your opponent into a trap with said abilities, and finish the fight with the exploding tags that the judges were impressed to hear you made yourself. Congratulations, you have earned you promotion." Kushina gave her the vest, and Sasuke nodded to Sakura, who was beaming.

"Tenten, you impressed the judges in by making your own exploding tags as well, not to mention the storage seals on those scrolls, the sheer amount that they could hold impressed them. Using that Twin Rising Dragons jutsu in combination with your tags has shown that you can issue a great deal of devastation from a distance, and you also have an aptitude with the weapons you unsealed for close quarters, indicating you can hold your own in all ranges of combat. You also stopped your attack when you thought you had defeated Sakura, though it was not finished, showing that you cared more about not doing serious harm to a comrade than passing the exam. So I am pleased to give you the rank of chunin."

"Three girls already and no guys promoted yet," Shikamaru muttered as Tenten slipped the vest on, smiling at the thumbs up from Gai. "Troublesome." Hinata, Sakura and Tenten all developed tick marks at the Nara's supposed sexism.

"Kiba Inuzuka, you have belied the reports on your academic ability and shown the use of strategy against an opponent you took the time to research before fighting, though I hear that was something you were bullied into by a teammate. You have also given a good showing of your clan's abilities. And the method you used to capture Kankuro was good counter against one of the most often used ways to dodge one of your collaborative attacks. So you are also promoted."

"Oh yeah!" Kiba shouted and proceeded to scar everyone with a victory dance that was almost as disturbing as the sunset genjutsu, and Akamaru whined and put his paws on his nose in shame at his master's antics.

"Moving on," Minato said with a sweat drop. "Shikamaru Nara, you have also given a good showing of your clan's jutsu, up to a point where you demonstrated an ability you were supposedly not taught yet, showing that you figured out how to use it yourself."

_"Yes, keep thinking that please, I need a smoke," _Shikamaru thought desperately.

"In addition, you also showed what was arguably the best strategy against your opponent and were able to capture her with relative ease. So you are now a chunin, I congratulate you."

"Great, can I go now?" Shikamaru asked once he had his vest, causing sweat drops all around.

"Yes you may, but it's good etiquette to-," Minato started before he saw that there was just a cloud of dust where Shikamaru was. "Wait to see who else among your comrades gets promoted," Minato finished dully.

_"Guess he couldn't wait any longer for a cigarette,"_ Naruto mentally sniggered._ "At least he's getting exercise now."_

"Shino Aburame, you were also a good tactician in your fight with Naruto, using your clan's insects as well as exploding tags that your teammate made for you. The tactic with hiding the tags in insect clones and the one where you hid a blood capsule in another to fool Naruto so you could surprise him were both clever tactics that would have been effective against most opponents. It was bad luck on your part that you were matched up with Naruto, which is possibly the only reason you lost, but even then, you impressed the judges when you recognized that you were outmatched and retreated, showing the ability to calmly cut losses. You're promoted, good work.

"Neji Hyuuga, from what could be seen of your match, you showed the ability to use two of your clan's most famous techniques, the Kaiten and the 64 palms. Many are aware that these are not taught to the Cadet Branch of your clan, which means that you reverse engineered them yourself. You also used the Kaiten in a good manner, allowing you to quickly defeat the set up your opponent prepared. Unfortunately, the match was too short to give the judges an accurate read on your abilities beyond that, so they were unable to conclude you were ready for the rank."

"Don't beat yourself up, Neji-san," Hinata consoled her cousin. "You did do well, you will be a chunin for sure next time."

"Naruto Namikaze," Minato said with a wide smile at his son, who smiled back. "During both of your matches, you showed an aptitude for wind style attacks and used them effectively in most cases. You also impressed the judges with the amount of Shadow Clones you could make, and I know that you can make many more than that. You also have the impressive feat of knowing earth style jutsu instead of just wind style, something more often seen in jonin hopefuls than chunin. Your kenjutsu was also high level, and you know both of my trademark jutsu, the Hiraishin and Rasengan. Your tactical ability was also shown to be decent during both fights. In fact, the judges had only two reasons to deny you a promotion, and one of them has nothing against your ability.

"What two reasons are those, Dad?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"The first was because you were willing to use the Rasengan against a comrade, and your teammate no less." Naruto sweat dropped. "However, considering the respect you two had for each other and desire to show your best against each other, they were willing to overlook that. The other reason was because they felt a little cheated. After all, you two were by far the strongest of your age group. You see, they never saw who would win between you two, due to a certain interruption. They were tempted to deny you both the rank so they would have a chance to see the treat they were denied. However, they decided that would be unfair, so I am pleased to announce that you are a chunin. Well done Naruto."

"Alright!" Naruto gleefully declared as his mother came forward with the vest and promised him ramen to celebrate later.

"Finally, Sasuke Uchiha. You were also able to use two elements, fire and lightning to great effect, as well as the Chidori, though the judges were again mildly displeased that you risked Naruto's life with it. Your kenjutsu was also at a high level, and you already have a high Sharingan level as well. You also know how to use Shadow Clones, though not on the same tier as Naruto there, but then, who can match his numbers? I am sure Mikoto will be happy to hear that you are ready for the rank of chunin." Sasuke smirked as Kushina placed the vest in his arms. "So then, congratulations to all of you who were promoted, and good luck to those who still have some work to do! You are all dismissed! Oh, and Sakura, Hinata and Neji, Tsunade would like to see you as soon as possible. She has shown interest in training several people for medical jutsu and would like you to be part of the program due to your good chakra control. We need more medic ninja for the village if we want to have one for each team, so think it over."

…

"So what's the diagnosis, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked as said Sannin came out of the room Kimimaro was being examined in. Ceilia nodded to Tsunade and went in to fix his seal.

"Well, just like the records we pilfered from my former comrade said, there is not much to go on with this, and his unique skeletal structure hampers any attempt to understand his illness," Tsunade replied. "He has been healed of the damage for now, but as you and Hana guessed, it seems as though his own Kekei Genkai has mutated and his marrow now produces a deadly toxin that slowly kills him from the inside out. It's an illness that even I can do nothing to cure, not with such a lack of previous knowledge.

"That is not to say that we are leaving him out to dry however. Though I can't cure him, I have looked at the toxin being released into his bloodstream. As I said, it is very deadly, but also very slow acting. And I figured out a formula to break it down before it does its damage. I am going to issue him some pills with these ingredients. If he takes them once a week, the toxin will be nullified before it does any harm."

"But won't his need for the drugs hinder him in the field?"

"Don't worry, they won't be addictive, and even if they were, I get the sense he is a disciplined young man. That said, even if he loses them in the field, the toxin is slow acting as I said and won't do serious damage even if he goes without his medicine for a month or so. The reason his condition was so critical was because it ran unchecked for about a year, maybe two."

"I see."

"So once Ceilia is done with today's work on his seal, we shall discharge him, and I will get to work making the medicine."

…..

"Okay, time to see what we have in this old thing," Kushina said as she, Naruto and Karin all applied their blood to the seal on the box. The seal glowed and receded. Kushina opened it and pulled out a scroll. "Now let's see what this is," she muttered and unfurled it to reveal a somewhat complex seal and her eyes went wide. "This…"

"What? What is it?" Naruto asked in an annoying tone and Minato chuckled.

"This is the Uzumaki clan's Regeneration Seal," Kushina said. "I thought it was just a legend."

"What does it do?" Minato asked as he looked it over with interest.

"Simply put, you apply it to something, either with a set amount of chakra with the time it stays on said item being determined by the amount of chakra, or you can give a steady stream to it to keep up with the demands. Then, any damage done to the object it is applied to, even it is something that would normally kill even an Uzumaki is healed, as long as the seal is applied. You could even regenerate a whole head if you put enough chakra into it, though the more complex the part being regenerated, not to mention the bigger, the more of a drain to the chakra, and it uses quite a bit. In fact, I think that if I tried to use it to regenerate a head, it would cost me about half of my reserves if I'm reading this right, due to the size of a head and the brain's complexity. I believe it was mainly used to regenerate vital organs so they could be removed and used for life-saving transplants."

"Huh, maybe Tsunade should learn it," Minato said. "It has potential in the field of healing."

"Good thing she is descended from Mito then, because our Uzumaki healing factor and life force is a requirement to use this seal," Kushina said. "That's part of the reason our clan was wiped out, so it could not be used for a purpose that the other nations were afraid of, though the rumors I heard were vague and what it could be used for that would scare them so much escapes me."

Naruto thought for a second, before a light bulb went off over his head. "Could it be used to replicate dojutsu, as well as vital organs?" he asked.

"What?" Karin asked while Kushina looked thoughtful.

"You know, if you applied it to an Uchiha or a Hyuuga, then removed their eyes, they would regenerate those eyes right? And both the removed and regenerated set would have the bloodline wouldn't they?"

"That would explain it," Kushina said. "I would bet that Kumo, Iwa and Kiri did not like the idea of a sudden increase of Sharingan and Byakugan users, so that would make this seal one of the deciding factors of their attack. Of course, I doubt that either the Uchiha or the Hyuuga would share their powers so willingly, and I don't like to idea of either dojutsu falling into so many potential wrong hand either."

"So I agree, we shelve the idea of replicating dojutsu with it except in special circumstances," Minato said.

"I think we should use it to replicate two pairs of Sharingan first though," Naruto said, confusing Minato and Kushina before he explained.

**A/N: Thank you all for reading my story for the past month, and yes, it has been a month and a day since I started this story. Thank you all for sticking by my story! **

**And yes, I know that the judges were not the only ones who were cheated, but I intend for an all out fight between Naruto and Sasuke in a couple of chapters, so don't worry!**

**Keep reading and keep reviewing! I want to raise my average of reviews to ten a chapter by the fortieth chapter, so that means I want a total of 400 reviews by then! For that, I am going to start releasing chapters after the tenth review of the last one, so I get at least what I desire to be my average, so keep sending me reviews! I don't want to have to slow down!**


	30. Chapter 29: A Couple New Teams

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: So this chapter will progress the story just a bit more, with Sasuke and Itachi getting the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and a set up for a few more pairings to be revealed.**

**Chapter 29: A Couple of Teams**

"So what's this about?" Sasuke asked about a week later as he and Itachi entered the Konoha hospital and saw Tsunade, Kushina and Naruto waiting for them.

"You two are aware of the weakness of Mangekyo Sharingan, am I right?" Tsunade asked, and both somewhat confused Uchiha nodded slowly as they wondered what they were getting at. "Well Naruto here figured out a way for you both to have the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Naruto, if you would demonstrate."

The blonde nodded and cast a few hand signs. "Regeneration Seal!" He slapped his right hand onto the back of his left and a seal materialized. Then Naruto took out a kunai and cut off the final digit of the pinkie of his left hand, wincing slightly and causing Itachi and Sasuke to both raise their eyebrows, though they knew that Naruto would not do such a thing unless he knew what he was doing, and they watched intrigued as Naruto's pinkie returned to normal in a second.

"I knew you had a healing factor, but that seal must have improved it," Itachi said as said seal faded, but Naruto shook his head.

"It would have had the same effect if anyone had it applied to them," he said. "You see, if this seal is applied to something before anything happens to that something, then the seal memorizes the current state of it and when something happens to alter that state, the seal returns it to that state. So my pinkie was returned to normal without the need for my healing factor, and as you can see, the severed portion is still right here." He held up the piece of his finger before continuing, "One of the drawbacks is the amount of chakra that is required. If there is not enough chakra placed into the seal, it will fade before its job is done, though it is also possible to flow some into it continuously as long as the caster has their hand on it, and the more complex the item being regenerated, and the more mass there is too it, the higher the requirements. This is what was in the box you recovered when we raided Orochimaru's bases, and it can only be used by an Uzumaki because of our life forces. I spent the past week trying to master it, and let me tell you, it's one of the toughest seals you will ever find, even with my clan's natural aptitude, I still had to spam my clones to get it down."

"So am I correct in assuming that the reason we were called here was to use it on our eyes prior to removing them and then transplanting the removed eyes, giving me and Sasuke the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?" Itachi asked and Sasuke looked thoughtful.

"That's the size of it yes," Tsunade said. "Are the two of you up for it?"

"I most certainly am," Sasuke said. "I have no intention of going blind anytime soon, nor do I want to see Itachi do so either."

"It does seem like a good solution to the problem," Itachi said. "Let's try it."

…..

"Alright you three," Zabuza said to Haku, Kin and Genyumaru as they all gathered in one of the training grounds. "I know full well that this is a pain for all three of you since you are chunin level at least, with the possible exception of Kin." Said kunoichi twitched. "But starting today, I will be your jonin instructor, and believe me, I will work you to the bone until you are chunin and out of my hair. So let's introduce ourselves. I am Zabuza Momochi, formerly one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. I like to make quick, clean kills in battle, and I hate people who drag out their fights deliberately, unless it is to get your foes to flee rather than have to kill them. As for my dreams for the future, I hope to avenge the death of an old friend, and see Haku's clan restored. Now you go Haku."

"My name is Haku Yuki. I like seeing the looks on the faces of guys who hit on me when they realize I'm not a girl." Genyumaru sweat dropped and remembered making the same mistake after being let out of his cell. He would never live that down. "I dislike killing, though I am capable of doing so if it is needed. My dreams for the future are to restore my clan and aid Zabuza-sama in his own endeavors. I believe you go next Kin."

"Kin Tsuchi. I like to show off my abilities, though I suppose that is one of my downfalls since that gives my enemies a chance to come up with counters. I also like to drink tea when I need to unwind. I dislike weaklings who neglect their shinobi training for whatever reason. I suppose my dreams for the future are to become a strong kunoichi and I would not mind helping one of my team mates with one of their goals…" Both she and Haku blushed a little after her admission of the crush she had ever since he had kept the Oto nin sent to kill her during the invasion from doing their job. Genyumaru sniggered.

"Seems like you have a soft spot as well, eh?" he said, earning a glare from Kin. "Alright, my name is Genyumaru. I like to fight a lot, though I do not kill needlessly, I just like the thrill of battle, and I am also fond of a lot of different foods. I have recently come to hate enclosed spaces, for obvious reasons. My dreams for the future… well I never really thought of that, I prefer to live in the present."

"Good. Now Kin and Genyumaru, I would like to test a little something before we start training," Zabuza said before he took out two sheets of paper. "These are specially treated slips that will help us know your chakra natures if you conduct your chakra through them." He gave them a description of what the papers would do for each element. "Obviously, we don't need you to do this Haku," he said before he gave the other two their slips and they focused their chakra as instructed. Kin's paper crumpled and Genyumaru showed that his paper had split neatly in two.

"Hmm, a lightning and a wind user. I'm not surprised in Kin's case, she does have a penchant for pinpoint strikes with her senbon and lightning compliments that well. Genyumaru on the other hand has a rare type, in fact I believe the only other two in this village are Naruto and another jonin by the name of Asuma. And I suppose Haku, but he has not really developed that, I could not teach him much in that department." Zabuza rubbed his chin. "I suppose you two will have to train together to work on that, and I will see if I can find some decent jutsu scrolls for you both. Tell me Genyumaru, how do you fight?"

"I generally prefer to use taijutsu," Genyumaru stated. "My clan has a Kekkei Genkai that naturally boosts our physical strength without the need to empower our limbs with chakra, though we can do that too if we need the extra might. I am strong enough to do serious damage to an enemy up close and personal and even tear an enemy apart if I hit hard enough."

"Not bad, I suppose a wind nature will be good for you, you could become a very deadly force to face in the front lines once we work on your style and add your nature to it. As for Kin, I will have to find some scrolls for you as well. What I can teach you all more hands on is stealth and tracking skills, and if you advance far enough, I can teach Kin and Genyumaru some water style jutsu that will compliment their other abilities. When I am through with you three, there will be no freaking way you will fail the next chunin exams, unless there is a preliminary round and you face each other."

….

"Even though our team is currently on probation, the Hokage has seen fit to officially form it," Kimimaro said to Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu in another training ground. "Because of my rank as one of Orochimaru's elite before I agreed to join the Leaf, I am given the rank of a low jonin and have been made your instructor until you are all chunin."

"Great, so meanwhile my abilities are wasted on a bunch of stupid D ranks, and we can't do C ranks until our team is let off probation," Suigetsu said darkly. "And to top it off, we can't take the next chunin exams because of that probation. This will be boring as hell for the next year." His ramblings were cut off when Karin punched through his head, splashing water everywhere.

"Yeah, well suck it up!" she shouted as a muttering Suigetsu reformed his head. "You lived in a tank for the past couple of years, this won't kill you!"

"At any rate," Kimimaro said unfazed. "We will skip introductions since we are already acquainted with one another, so we will begin training immediately. First," he pulled out three slips of the chakra testing paper and one to Karin and one to Jugo, keeping the last one. "Let's find out our natures. There is no need to do Suigetsu, since he is clearly water." With that, the three conducted their chakra into the slips. Karin's paper was soaked, Jugo's crumpled and Kimimaro's burned. "Hmm, so Karin, I want you to do some training with Suigetsu in your water style." Both Karin and Suigetsu protested violently to this, and continued to argue until Kimimaro finally threatened to lock them both in an airtight room with Jugo without being around to calm him down. And he made this threat while having his same usual calm demeanor, which added some terror to it.

….

A few days later in Konoha's hospital, a blindfolded Sasuke was currently bored out of his mind. The procedure had gone perfectly, with Naruto and Kushina using the Regeneration Seal and as expected, both sets of eyes had retained their Kekkei Genkais, making the means of unlocking the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan able to work for both of them, but he and Itachi both had to wait for a couple more days before they could be released from the hospital before their eyes were fully adjusted.

Luckily for him, Sakura was working that day in the hospital, though she did not know the details of what had been done with his eyes, and Itachi had the tact to move to another room so Sasuke and Sakura could catch up, and Sasuke could ask Sakura something in private.

After a little while of talking about the past few days, Sasuke finally asked tentatively, "So… Sakura, you know the night about a week from now? The anniversary of Konoha's founding?"

"Well yeah, it is usually celebrated in a grand fashion, and this year the Hokage poured some money from the village treasury into a festival to lift the village's spirits after the recent invasion," Sakura replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, Hinata visited earlier and she was in a good mood because she and Naruto made plans to spend that day together, and I was wondering… did you maybe want to do the same thing and make our relationship official?" Sasuke finished with a slight blush. Kami, why was this so hard? He was a freaking shinobi for crying out loud!

"Of course I would, Sasuke! In fact, I was actually going to ask you the same thing if you didn't ask before you were released! Oh, but if we really are going to get our relationship out there, you will have to get approval from mom and dad."

"Great," Sasuke moaned. Mebuki and Kazashi were known to care for the village and Sasuke knew that they were among the people who were still wary of the Uchiha clan because of the near coup attempt. Thank Kami that turned out better than last time, but there was still tension.

"If you're worried about how they will view you, there is no need. They know you were not in on the coup and they respect Itachi for protecting the village from his own clan, so they aren't completely prejudiced."

"Kami, I sure hope not."

…..

"Aw come on Hinata, what do I need a kimono for?" Naruto whined while the girl dragged Naruto along by his ear a few days later.

"Because, Naruto-kun, my father expects you to be presentable when you come pick me up for the date, and he told me that he has his katana ready if you have the nerve to show up in the jumpsuit you usually wear," Hinata replied.

"What's wrong with orange?"

"Nothing, you have good reason to be fond of it, but this is a formal occasion, so if you want to wear orange, you will have to be subtle about it, because I am not cleaning up the mess if Father kills you. He may have already given our relationship his blessing, but we don't want it to be ruined now do we?"

"You know, you are scary whenever you perceive a threat to our relationship," Naruto pouted.

"You too huh?" a familiar voice asked and Naruto managed to turn his head enough to see an anime tear weeping Kakashi being dragged to the same building by his hair by…

"Ceilia!?" Naruto asked in surprise. "No way, you two are actually dating?"

"Yes believe it or not, I have decided this fool has been quite lonely over the past few years and has had to fill that void with the smut he reads," Ceilia said. "So yes, I am providing female companionship for him."

"Oh man this is rich," Naruto sniggered. "We've got ourselves the Cyclops and the Triclops on a date, hehe…" His laughter was cut short when Ceilia flared enough killing intent to make most jonin crap themselves. "I said that aloud, didn't I?"

He would have been killed then and there if Hinata had not been with him.

…..

"So, you are the Sasuke Uchiha that our daughter has been so infatuated with, is that right?" Kizashi asked at the Haruno residence to a newly discharged Sasuke, who nodded a little nervously. Sakura was sitting next to her boyfriend to be, trying to radiate encouragement to counter the parental intent, derived from killing intent, coming from Kizashi and Mebuki, the latter of whom was busy making a smoothie with a variety of fruits and vegetables.

"Yes, that is me," Sasuke said with a small gulp. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you both, Kizashi-sama and Mebuki-sama." Good grief, why was he so scared of two simple people when he was capable of killing kage level shinobi and had the greatest form of the Sharingan at his disposal!? Somehow these two made him wish he was trying to stare down a pissed off Codra right now instead.

"Alright then, listen up," Kizashi said. "My wife and I are willing to give you a chance, and our daughter has already told us that you have treated her well during the times you have gotten together in your… non-dates."

"However," Mebuki said as she put all the ingredients but a single carrot stick in the blender. "If you do so much as one thing that hurts Sakura in either a physical or a mental way, we WILL exact a penalty on you." With that, she took the carrot stick she had left for that moment, made sure Sasuke could see it, and put it right in the blender before turning it on**(A/N: My parents did the same thing with my older sister's now husband when they first started dating. I wonder where they got the idea from, that's a good threat)**.

Sasuke went very pale when he saw what was implied with the threat that was somehow subtle and blunt at the same time before he nodded and made a mental note to never tell them about his actions towards her from the future. He honestly couldn't blame them if they tried to kill him if they ever found out.

…..

Drakmus gazed down at his underling, who knelt in supplication, concealed by his black cloak.

"Remember, she will only be valuable leverage for us if you capture her alive," Drakmus said. "The Kyuubi brat will not trade himself for a corpse."

"I understand, Drakmus-sama," the man replied.

"Good, now go," Drakmus said and his servant nodded before the air cracked and the man stepped into the rift with a nod. Drakmus would go himself, but if that meddling Felix went into his accursed Sage Mode for any reason, then Drakmus's chakra was far too easy for the fool to identify.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I kind of wanted to get this posted fast, and there was not all that much to cover for it. I have good news for me and bad news for you unfortunately. I have quite probably secured a job, which I am quite pleased about. However, this will mean that I have less time to work on this story, so I will no longer be able to update almost daily. Therefore, I will no longer ask for a certain amount of reviews for each chapter, because that would be unreasonable if my updates only come once or twice a week. I will still spend as much time as possible on this story, and I do intend to see it through to the end, so once again I apologize.**

**So please keep reading my story, and review, and I will post whenever I can!**


	31. Chapter 30: Naruto's Confession

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: The romance that was promised in the summary of this story will pick up in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter 30: Naruto's Confession **

"See Naruto, you look great," Hinata said with a smile as she and her boyfriend walked down the streets of Konoha, the festival being more extravagant than usual. Hinata was wearing a lavender kimono that matched her hair and smiling at Naruto, who had donned a night black kimono with a pattern of stars, a depiction of a full moon over the front of his left shoulder and orange autumn leaves blowing in a breeze.

"Please, you look far better than I do," Naruto replied as he bought a couple sticks of cotton candy and gave one to Hinata. "I wonder if my parents will attend. Now that Dad knows he can use Shadow Clones to ditch that paperwork, I see no reason he and Mom can't show up."

"Didn't they have a few words to share with you before you left?" Hinata giggled with a slight blush, causing Naruto to go very red as he remembered his mom come into his room as he was getting ready, muttering something about stupid Janken before proceeding to give him the very uncomfortable sex talk. Naturally, Naruto protested to that, trying to tell Kushina that he was mentally 30 at this point, but she reminded him that he had no parents to give him this talk last time, so he had to suck it up at least once and remember that she was just as embarrassed as he was.

After being embarrassed, he was then scared shitless when Hiashi had greeted Naruto and not so subtly told Naruto to toe the line, while sharpening his katana as he did so. The threat was magnified when Neji and Hizashi sent their killing intent at the blonde. Needless to say, he was sufficiently cowed. The idea of Gentle Fist strikes permanently disabling his nether regions was not an appealing one.

Of course, he heard about the threat Sakura's parents made to Sasuke and thought it was hilarious. At least he was not the only one who was threatened by his girlfriend's parents.

"Huh, I should of known that you would find a way to smuggle orange into your formal wear," a familiar voice said and Naruto turned to see Itachi and his lover Azami Uchiha **(A/N: Obito mentioned at some point that Itachi had a lover in the Uchiha clan before being forced to kill her in the massacre, though she was never gone into detail beyond that, so I just made something up)**walk up, arm in arm in plian black kimonos. "But I like the leaves, they represent our village well."

"How are things Itachi-sensei?" Hinata asked with a formal bow.

"No need for sensei anymore, you're a chunin now," Itachi said with a smile.

"Though that only means that you did a good job teaching them Itachi-kun," Azami said with a smile. "They might not be your underlings anymore, but you did still play a vital role in getting them this far. Though their own skills deserve some of the credit, you are still their sensei, regardless of their rank."

"You always did care too much for the formalities Azami," Itachi replied good-naturedly. "Anyway Naruto, the main plaza has a group of the best cooks in Konoha at the left side, working at an all you can eat buffet the Hokage sponsored for the night. Teuchi wanted me to let you know that he is one of the chefs. And yes Hinata, there are people who made cinnamon-," he did not get any further, because both Naruto and Hinata were replaced with smoke clouds so fast, you'd think Naruto used Hiraishin.

…..

"I still think it's a little much Kushina," Minato said as he looked into a mirror and viewed the kimono his wife was making him wear. It covered in a sort of golden glitter that made the blonde Hokage look just a little too extravagant, at least in his opinion.

"Lighten up, you're Hokage aren't you?" Kushina replied with a chuckle, wearing a kimono with fire designs all over it. "At any rate, I don't want to have to wait for you to change again, Teuchi is at the area we sponsored for the buffet area of the festivities tonight, and I do not want Naruto beating us there and eating all of the ramen before we get there, so hurry up and make some clones to handle the paperwork you still have to do and let's go!"

Minato sighed and complied, making five clones and heading out with his boisterous wife, Akari following along in a simple red kimono.

"A little over eager, isn't she," Jiraiya chuckled as he and Tsunade saw them leave the tower as they walked arm in arm down the paper lantern lit streets.

"Funny, those two are so happy together, and are about half our age, and yet it took this long for us to finally be a couple," Tsunade said with a rare look of tenderness at Jiraiya.

"Heh well, I've been trying to ask you out for years, and it was always you who rejected me, so don't blame me," Jiraiya replied.

"BAKA!" Tsunade shouted as she rammed her fist into the Toad Sannin's face and sent him into the wall of one of the buildings. "I would have accepted long ago if it weren't for your perverted tendencies," she stated with a vein in her fist.

"My tendencies aren't perverted, they're super perverted!"

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. Time travel or no, some things just never changed.

…

"I'm a little surprised Naruto isn't here right now, stuffing himself on that ramen," Shikamaru said to Choji as the two played a game of Shogi, though the latter was more interested in scarfing down all the barbeque the cooks could prepare. After a small entrance fee, all food in the plaza for the night was free, and Choji was taking full advantage. He looked to the center of the plaza where several couples were dancing to the music played on the right side. With a pang, he realized he would not have minded joining them if Temari had been around. _"Love is troublesome,"_ Shikamaru thought with a sigh as he made the finishing move in the game.

Then there was a bit of a commotion as a certain blonde arrived at the same time as two certain redheads crashed into each other where the ramen was being served by Ayame and Shikamaru knew that Naruto and his mother and sister had arrived and were about to start an all out war for the ramen that had been was already out. Teuchi was going to be a busy man, and Shikamaru knew that Minato would not be happy when he saw the chef's bill when it came time to deduct the price of the food consumed from the Konoha treasury.

Shikamaru thought for a second before he decided to see if he could beat the Yondaime at Shogi and moved over to the tables set up near the ramen stand, leaving Choji to continue his quest to bankrupt the village treasury. Hinata of course was indulging her sweet tooth, but in a much more dignified manner than Naruto and his two female family members were eating their ramen in. Seriously, did they even use those utensils at all?

"Hokage-sama, would you care to play a game of Shogi?" Shikamaru asked and Minato was all too happy for an excuse to leave his squabbling family to their pig out.

…..

"Well, that is not the most flattering photo of me you will ever find," Sasuke said looking at one of the proofs he and Sakura had gotten from the photo booth. He was wearing a kimono that was solid black except for a snake made of red flames over the left part of his chest and a hawk made of lightning over the right. Sakura's was sky blue with a few wispy clouds designed, but the main feature was a blizzard of cherry blossoms. The photo they were looking at now was one where Sasuke had been in the middle of a sneeze when the picture had been snapped, and Sakura found the sight amusing.

"Good thing that is not your identification photo," she said giggling. "Can you imagine having to make that face every time someone wanted to confirm who you were?"

"That would be humiliating," Sasuke replied with a slight chuckle.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin shouted as she dragged Suigetsu along. "Don't you want to take a picture with me?"

"Er, no," Sasuke said as he and Suigetsu both face palmed and Sakura developed a tick mark.

"Back off lady, Sasuke's mine now!" she said as she raised her fist in irritation, the wrath of a woman with her territory being threatened coming out full force.

"Oh hell no, I have no intention of losing him to you!" Karin shouted right back, Suigetsu and Sasuke getting more and more sweat drops.

"You never had him in the first place!" Sakura retorted.

"I'm right here you know," Sasuke muttered, but he was ignored.

"Oh so what do you have that I don't then?" Karin demanded. "Other than a freakish sized head that seems to be stealing resources from the rest of that stick figure of yours." She froze as she felt Sakura and Sasuke projecting killing intent at her.

"She did not just go there…" Sakura snarled and Sasuke also made his irritation of the line Karin crossed apparent. "Can I kill her please Sasuke?"

"You don't need to go that far, but I don't like hearing you insulted on such a sore subject either," Sasuke replied. "So I won't try to stop you from beating her senseless."

…..

Kakashi was walking with Ceilia down one of Konoha's side streets, laughing about something or another when two blurs ran right by them, one with crimson red hair and screaming for her life, while the other was pink headed, and for some reason sopping wet and shouting for the red head's blood. Both Kakashi and Ceilia sweat dropped as the two went out of sight and Ceilia asked, "What was that about?"

"Well," Kakashi said thoughtfully. "This may be a far-fetched guess, but I would say that Karin likely angered Sakura, possibly by either going after Sasuke, or by insulting Sakura's figure or, if she had a death wish, her forehead. Possibly some combination of all of the above, and if I had to guess why Sakura was so wet, I would say that Suigetsu was fool enough to try stopping her from going after Karin." There were screams that signified that Sakura had caught Karin. "Do you think we should stop that before it gets more out of hand than it already is?"

Ceilia thought about it for a second before she said, "No way am I getting involved in that, and besides, Karin does need a reality check that Sasuke is unavailable, and sometimes being rough is the only way to get through to fan girls like that." Kakashi nodded in agreement and they ignored Karin's pleas for help and mercy. "So why don't we just go somewhere private," Ceilia continued. "Maybe I can finally get a kiss out of you."

"Oh it's not the kiss you want, you just want to see what's under my mask," Kakashi teased, and Ceilia snorted.

"Please, if this," she pointed to her forehead where the third eye she was so proud of was hidden behind her headband. "Could see the piece of chakra that lingered when Itachi restored your memories, do you really think that it can't see enough detail of your mask to give me a clear picture of what's beneath it? I already pretty much know what you look like underneath it, handsome."

"So much for one of my secrets," Kakashi sighed.

"And just FYI, your face is not the only part I was able to get an idea of the appearance of," Ceilia said with an evil grin that made Kakashi pale.

"You didn't…"

"Yeah, you're right, I didn't, but I could at any time I wanted too."

"That is too much information."

…

"Well, that's what you get for trying to get between Sakura and her prey," Sasuke was telling Suigetsu as he finally finished reforming. Sakura had just blasted right through him and the water he was made of was so scattered and some was flung away so far, it took a little bit for the Hozuki to reform. "Why were you two together anyway?"

Suigetsu stretched a little and said, "We kinda had mutually beneficial reasons. She was trying to make you jealous, and I made a bet with Zabuza-sama that I could get a date for tonight. So we were both trying to accomplish something. Still though… I hate to admit it but… I actually kinda enjoyed spending time with her today."

"Well, would you mind telling her that for me? She will never leave me alone otherwise," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Well, I will try to work up the courage, but for some reason the idea scares me a lot more that Orochimaru, and that is saying quite a bit…"

….

"Not again!" Minato shouted as Shikamaru got yet another checkmate and Naruto was laughing at his father in amusement. "Why can't I ever beat a Nara at a bloody board game?" Minato cried anime tears. "I'm supposed to be one of the smartest shinobi alive!"

Hinata excused herself and headed towards a building to use the restroom. Naruto walked up to Shikamaru and said that he would not mind taking a crack at playing Shikamaru, though it was Kurama who would be playing in reality, for the fox had observed the rules of Shogi and wanted to see if a human could actually beat him in a game of wits. Minato was happy to escape losing another round to the young Nara, but ended up going from the frying pan into the fire when Kushina grabbed him and pulled him onto the dance floor, ignoring his protests.

**"Alright, here's how I want you to move the pieces Naruto," **Kurama told the blonde.

….

Hinata had just finished reapplying her make-up when she suddenly had the feeling she was being watched. She whipped around but saw nothing. She activated her Byakugan, but again, she was denied a glimpse of whatever had spooked her. She sighed and shook her head. "I must be getting nervous because of having spent all day with Naruto-kun," she berated herself. She was just about to leave the restroom when there was a heavy blow to the back of her head, knocking her out instantly.

"Good thing that dojutsu of yours has a blind spot," the cloaked man said as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. "A pretty little thing such as yourself should serve as perfect leverage against that boyfriend of yours."

….

"Hah, what do you think of that Naruto?" Shikamaru asked as he moved his piece.

"Hm, alright, how about… Checkmate!" Naruto said as Kurama directed the final move and Shikamaru paled.

"No way… I knew Kurama was a cunning bastard, but this… troublesome," he sighed as Naruto and Kurama both laughed, gleeful of the Nara's defeat at last. "Another round," he said as he reset the board.

The next game, Shikamaru won, surprising Kurama a little, and then the next game, Shikamaru won again, but lost the fourth. They were about to start the fifth round when Kushina started pummeling Minato for trying to ditch her with a Shadow Clone, shouting that she was not his paperwork. Naruto sweat dropped before he said, "Odd, I would have thought Hinata would have wanted me to dance with her by now, and I was even willing to have Ero-Sennin teach me a few steps in case she demanded it of me… come to think of it, where is she?" Naruto scrunched his brow. "I know girls take a while in the bathroom, but this is ridiculous!" Naruto could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

**"Take it from me Naruto," **Kurama said. **"Usually when your instincts tell you something is off, that means that it is…"**

"You're right about that," Naruto said and he focused for a second to enter Sage Mode. The moment he did, his eyes widened. "Sorry Shikamaru, I have to run," Naruto quickly said and Hiraishinned away, leaving his lazy friend alone and without an opponent.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed.

…

"Almost done," the cloaked man said in one of the forests outside of Konoha as he concentrated and a trussed up and gagged Hinata struggled against her bonds. The jutsu that opened rifts was useful, but it had limitations. In order to prevent the abductions of important political figures, the same seal master who had designed the time travel seal had made several seals that strengthened the boundaries between dimensions. While the rifts still opened easily enough, they always repelled any person who did not wish to go through them, preventing most kidnapping attempts from working with the Dimension Door Jutsu. It was still possible to open rifts that did not have this liability, but it took a lot of time and concentration to pull off.

"Got it," he said as the air cracked, and Hinata's eyes widened as she redoubled her efforts to get free. "None of that now," the man said as he pulled her towards the rift. He then got a shock as Naruto Hiraishinned into view with a Rasengan charged.

"Grah!" Naruto shouted and rammed the jutsu into the man's gut. He was launched backwards and slammed into a tree, his hood coming down. He had a rather unremarkable appearance, just simple short brown hair and a somewhat chubby face. "Keep your filthy hands off of Hinata, you bastard," the blonde snarled as he made a Shadow Clone to untie her. It was a good thing he had placed a Hiraishin seal on her just in case of something like this.

The man tried to rise, but his legs would not support him. "Damn," he muttered as he realized he had no choice. He reached into his pocket and tried to put the contents into his mouth, but Naruto summoned a chakra chain that grabbed the man's arm and forced him to drop the cyanide pill he had been about to take.

"Uh uh," Naruto said as he took in the suicide pill. "If you were willing to try to kill yourself, that must mean you have some intel of value." More chakra chains came from Naruto's body and bound the man. "So you will have to come with me."

…

"Just great," Felix said when Naruto and Hinata finished explaining the situation to him and he made sure some basic seals were placed to keep the man from going anywhere. "Now we have whoever is after you coming for those who are close to you as well. Well, it was bound to happen eventually, and it is good that you were able to prevent it easily enough Naruto. Now we need to figure out what to do about it to prevent any future attempts."

"But just what is happening?" Hinata asked. "Why are those people after what's inside Naruto-kun? And why did Naruto hand over the man to you instead of the ANBU?"

"Felix, she's in too much danger now to keep in the dark," Naruto said firmly to the Yoshoryuu, who sighed.

"Fine," he said. "Hinata, I will explain everything." Without warning, his hand shot out and grasped Hinata's head. "Pulse Imprint Jutsu." Hinata's head flared in pain and she fell to her knees crying in pain.

"Sorry, Hinata," Naruto said as he knelt next to her and squeezed her hand to offer comfort. "Don't worry, it only lasts for a couple of minutes."

Once the jutsu had ended, Felix quickly explained about the time travel and about all that had occurred from the Elder Dimension. "So to sum it up, we are in the past," he was finishing to a still confused Hinata, for she was still trying to take it all in. "And we are trying to keep things from going as bad as they had last time, but it seems some others from the Elder Dimension have other ideas. We are still looking into it, but we already know our new foes are possibly worse news than even Madara."

"I see…" Hinata said.

"Anyway, you two should return to the festival and try to enjoy the remainder of the night," Felix said. "I would not want it to be ruined by this, and don't worry, I will keep an eye out for trouble in Sage Mode for the rest of the night. And I will have Ceilia see what she can yank from this punk's mind, the Pulse Imprint Jutsu was blocked from showing me his memories by a seal, and Ceilia is the only one who can remove something like this."

"Thanks Felix," Naruto said and he grabbed Hinata's hand before he Hiraishinned them away. Felix grabbed the would be kidnapper and dragged him to a place to wait for Ceilia.

…..

The festival was finishing with a show of fireworks, but neither Naruto or Hinata really saw them. They were too busy thinking about the events of the night as they sat next to each other on top of Minto's head on the Hokage Monument. "Do you really think we can change things this time, for the better, Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"Of course we will," Naruto said. "We may still be in the dark against our new foes, but we have managed to beat them so far, and we are in much better shape than last time. And no matter how strong our enemies are, I will get strong enough to beat them. We have come too far in fixing things to let anything ruin it for us now."

"You're right, Naruto-kun," Hinata said before she looked up at the fireworks. "So much has happened…"

"Yeah, I know that… Hinata, there is something I need to tell you, something that I am about 13 years late, or 3 years early, depending on your viewpoint…"

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she saw Naruto get a little fidgety.

"Do you remember what you said when we fought Pain?" Hinata's eyes widened as Naruto gripped her shoulders. "Do you still feel that way?"

"Yes, I still do Naruto, and nothing will ever change that."

"Good," Naruto said with a tender smile coming onto his face. "Because, I love you too, Hinata." And with that, he pulled her in close. Their lips met and they lost themselves in the moment.

**A/N: So it is official, I now have a job, so updates will be slowing to possibly once a week, maybe less, but I will strive to avoid that. So I apologize for not giving you all chapters at a fast rate anymore, but I gotta work on my personal life… please don't kill me…**

**So I hope that what I managed to post so far is good enough to tidy readers over, and please review!**


	32. Chapter 31: The Godaime Hokage

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I am now over 200 favorites, wa-hoo! The story is also a part of another community, which I am good with, and my reviews have hit an average of just over 9 per chapter, so l still want to hit at least 10 a chapter average before chapter 40, but it is no longer a demand, because of the slowed rate of updates. Things will progress a little more this chapter, so enjoy.**

**Chapter 31: The Godaime Hokage**

"So that's the size of it," Felix said to Minato, Jiraiya, Kakashi and Kushina. Ceilia, Xackary, Borace, Naruto, Itachi and Sasuke were in the room with them. "At this point, Naruto and everyone close to him are endangered. For the next few years until the Akatsuki make their move, we need to find a way to keep Naruto and his loved ones safe. I personally think that Hinata and Akari are the most likely targets, because of how close they are to Naruto."

"I see," Minato said as he furrowed his brow in concentration. "Well we can have Naruto go on that training trip, and as for Hinata's protection, I am sure that Hiashi will not mind having her go along with Naruto and Jiraiya once we explain that there is an organization after Naruto for what he holds and that Hinata could be a target as well. As much as he will be upset that she is targeted because of her relationship to Naruto, the Hyuuga clan is no stranger to having many enemies. He should know that keeping Hinata in the village will only make her an easier target."

"That's true, but don't forget, it would not be too difficult for our enemies from the Elder Dimension to track them down, since they can cover a lot of ground with the Dimension Door Jutsu, so having them leave the village for an extended period of time would be very risky," Felix mused. "If only there was some way to take them somewhere our enemies would be a lot less likely to look…"

"I may have an idea," Kushina said. "What if I told you all that I figured out the time travel scroll's seal?"

Everyine who had the foggiest idea of how complex the seal was, meaning Minato, Naruto, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Felix, Xackary, and especially Ceilia, gaped at Kushina as though she had an extra head. "Are you saying…" the purple haired woman asked slowly "That the seal that took me years, with this extra eye of mine to study it, to learn how to work, was unraveled in a matter of months by you?"

"Yeah, I mean, I did use Shadow Clones to keep at it, and I had the reserves to use the aid effectively, so it can likely be explained by the fact that with that third eye of yours, you could only pick the seal apart a little bit at a time before the eye drained your reserves, slowing the process, and the fact that you had no natural aptitude for sealing without the eye." Ceilia grunted her grudging agreement. The reason she had gotten the Tamashi Kensaku Me implanted in her head in the first place was because of the fact that she seemed rather talentless despite her goals of becoming a worthy knight of the Elder Dimension. She had a decent ability with taijutsu and a few weapons, but her genjutsu and ninjutsu were below average. The only thing she had more than most was an abnormally strong will, which was why she had been offered the chance to improve her abilities through the transplanted eye, because of how the process required such a will to survive the process with your sanity intact.

"At any rate, while I was finishing my studying of the seal, I found a bit of a loophole, one that deals with one of Felix's restrictions," Kushina continued and the Yoshoryuu raised his eyebrows, clearly interested. "The same law that keeps him from returning to the Elder Dimension, or the seal will immediately take his life. The requirements to keep that part of the seal that deals instant death from doing its job is that Felix stay in the same dimension as the one who turned time back."

"So that means…" Felix started, trying to stop from smiling and failing.

"If I read this right, then if both Naruto and you were to go to the Elder Dimension, there would be nothing stopping you from returning home early for a little while."

"There's a problem," Ceilia interjected. "The Elder Dimension has some strict laws that keep outsiders from being brought to it. The Ruling Council will have your ass if you bring Naruto and Hinata there, Felix."

"Maybe," Felix mused. "But Naruto is a descendant of the Rikudou Sennin, who came from the Elder Dimension to begin with, so the law may not completely apply to Naruto, because of his roots there."

"True," Xackary said, scratching his chin in thought. "Perhaps we could check with the council beforehand… but that leaves Hinata."

"Well… this may seem a little premature," Felix said to Minato and Kushina. "But people from the Elder Dimension are allowed to wed those who aren't, thus allowing said spouses or fiancé's legal access to the dimension. If Naruto is given the go-ahead to go to the Elder Dimension, then if we were to arrange for him and Hinata to be bethrothed…"

"I'm okay with it," Naruto said. "But we will have to ask Hinata if she is. I will not force her into anything, even if it is for her safety."

"I'm not exactly big on arranged marriages myself," Minato stated. "But there is the fact that both people in question do care for each other, so I doubt that either one will object to it being written beforehand that they will be husband and wife when they are both 18."

"It might be difficult to convince Hinata's clan though…" Itachi said.

"There should be no trouble with Hiashi, he has spent the past few years trying to fend off several attempts from the elders in the clan to marry Hinata off," Minato said. "He does not want her to be forced into being married off to someone she is not interested in, but the elders are desperate to prevent any chance of Naruto marrying her."

**"Sorry about that," **Kurama apologized from Naruto's mouth, but Minato shook his head.

"That's not why, though I doubt it helps. The reason is because they don't want to lose their hold on the Cadet Branch of their clan. You see, they are aware of Naruto's ambition to abolish the Caged Bird Seal if he ever becomes Hokage, and they know that he is likely to get that title, due to his lineage on my side, and the fact that he is already very powerful. But just being Hokage is not enough to have the authority to abolish the tradition, because clan matters are supposed to exist outside of the Hokage's rule. But if the Hokage were married to the Hyuuga heiress, then he would have more authority over the clan's matters and could very well succeed in ordering the end of the tainted tradition. And with the Uzumaki sealing ability, it is not unreasonable to assume the Naruto will be able to remove the Caged Bird Seals at some point. And Hiashi has been campaigning for the end of that tyranny for years, so we should have no trouble getting him to allow the betrothal. And once the documents are signed, the Hyuuga elders will be stuck with it, though they will then no doubt resort to… drastic measures to try to ensure they keep their power over the Cadet Branch. But we can use that too, it will make Hiashi more willing to have Hinata far away from the Elders until she is more able to defend herself."

"So I will tell the Elder Dimension's Ruling Council about Naruto," Xackary said. "If he is allowed to enter, we can go ahead with the plan."

"That leaves Akari," Kushina said. "She will no doubt be one of the easier targets, so we need to make sure she is well protected as well."

"I had plans to have ANBU watch her, but I also want her apprenticed to a high level shinobi instead of going to the academy," Minato said. "This will keep other children from being brought into harm's way, and give her someone of high caliber to defend her, as well as having her trained to defend herself at least a little. I still have yet to find a suitable candidate-,"

"I'll do it," an unexpected voice piped up at this, and everyone else in the room stared at Sasuke. "I am already a jonin-level shinobi, if not kage, even if my official rank is chunin, and I will not see anything happen to Naruto's sister that I have the power to prevent."

"Power is not the only concern though," Xackary said. "There is also your dubious background to consider, your trustworthiness."

"Shut up now, Xackary," Naruto growled as Sasuke frowned at the Shikkokyo and Kushina, Minato and Jiraiya looked on confused, because Naruto had not told them about Sasuke having taking that wrong turn in the other timeline. "I won't deny that Sasuke has done questionable things, but they have been erased now, and he did save my life before we came back, and he has more than redeemed himself in my eyes. Insult him again and see what happens…"

"I am merely voicing a concern," Xackary said impassively, ignoring the death glares that Naruto and Itachi were giving him. "Honestly, I hope he is sincerely going to take the right road this time, but to willingly trust him with your sister's life after what he did in the future past is downright foolish. The consequences of his actions may have been erased, but he has forfeited the benefit of the doubt."

"Enough," Minato said before the situation could escalate. "I won't ask what Xackary is talking about, but I am sure that it is a legitimate concern. However, thus far, Sasuke has given me no other reason not to trust him, so I will give the final word to Naruto and Itachi. I respect both of their opinions and they clearly know more about this than anyone else here." He turned to both of them. "Taking into account whatever happened in the other timeline, do you really trust Sasuke enough to let him do as he suggested? Don't answer right away, I want you both to actually consider it for a minute."

Thinking hard, both Naruto and Itachi considered all aspects of the situation, before Naruto nodded to Itachi, who said to Minato, "Honestly considering all aspects of Sasuke's actions, both good and bad, as well as what we see in his heart, I can say that Naruto and I would both trust my brother with our lives unconditionally."

Minato nodded and turned his gaze to the young Uchiha in question. "Can you honestly promise me that no harm will come to my daughter on your watch?"

"Lord Hokage," Sasuke said respectfully while his eyes never left Minato's or Kushina's. "I swear on my life and the honor of my entire clan, that I will do everything in my power to keep Akari safe."

Neither Minato or Kushina saw anything but honesty in Sasuke's eyes. "Very well then," Minato said after Kushina nodded her approval. "As Hokage, I will exercise my powers to give you the rank of jonin, and Akari will be your student, starting tomorrow. Her protection and training will be considered an S rank mission."

"I understand completely."

"Now we need to discuss other preparations we need to make to ensure we are ready to face our foes when the time comes. I have already sent messages to the Raikage and Takigakure that their jinchuriki are targets of the enemy, as well as a message to the wandering holder of the Rokubi." Minato chuckled then before saying, "I also sent the Raikage a little secret to make his kage work load a little easier, so he would be able to train a little more and be up to scratch when the time comes."

"Ah, the old Shadow Clone trick," Naruto sniggered. "Is there anything Shadow Clones can't do?"

"Make you tall?" Sasuke asked.

"Well that I suppo- Hey, wait a minute!" the blonde midget shouted indignantly, to the laughter of most in the room.

"Now I need to make new plans," Jiraiya muttered. "Since I won't be making sure Naruto is ready this time…"

"Perhaps you could accompany me instead," Minato said. "I will be leaving the village myself to train at Mount Myoboku for at least until Naruto returns, and from what I heard, you could use more practice with Sage Mode yourself, and I could teach you Hiraishin."

"Probably a good idea," Jiraiya said before he frowned. "But if you are going to be gone that long, who's going to take care of the village in your place? Just leaving someone else in charge for that long won't cut it, you will have to name a Godaime Hokage, even if it is only until you return."

"He already has it covered," Naruto said. "He asked Baa-chan this morning to take the hat during his absence, so-,"

"She declined," Minato said, shocking everyone in the room. "She said that she did not want the job again, because konoha would be better served if she were to focus almost solely on training medics for the village, and she suggested someone who would be more suited to the role, and I agreed with her suggestion."

"So then who-," Naruto asked as Minato tossed the hat to one of the people in the room, who was almost too shocked to catch it.

"Itachi Uchiha, I have decided that your clan has been denied a member in this office long enough, despite their role in founding the village. And you have demonstrated that you care deeply for the village, and are willing to make sacrifices for it. So if you accept, I name you the Godaime Hokage."

…

Perhaps A had overreacted when he threw his secretary out the window, but then again, when he looked at the pile of paperwork said person had brought him, he somehow did not think so. He sighed and got to work, looking up at Darui, who had just entered the room.

"Really, Lord Raikage, you should control your temper a little better," the black lightning user sweat dropped.

"I had just finished with the last stack, and was about to relax," A wept. "Please tell me you reconsidered my offer for the job, it's still on the table."

"Sorry, but I think it's too drab to take," Darui replied. "Perhaps you should consider your brother's offer instead."

"NO! B will be Raikage only when I want the village demolished," A snapped. "Though I do appreciate the offer to take the work off of my hands, he is not suited for the job."

"Well, to get to why I am here, this arrived for you, it's from the Hokage." A frowned as he took the envelope from Darui, who then excused himself.

"What could the Yellow Flash want?" A asked himself as he opened the envelope and another, smaller one fell out, along with a letter, which was clearly meant to be read first, which A started immediately.

_To the Yondaime Raikage,_

_I trust that you are as well as last time we met? While we may have parted last time as enemies, I need to let you know that there is criminal mercenary organization known as the Akatsuki, which you have probably already heard of, since Iwa had employed them in recent years, though Iwa has dispensed with their services after learning of their goals. The Akatsuki are after the Bijuu. _

A frowned as the implications set in before he continued,

_They have already made several attempts to capture my son, who I am sure you know hosts the Kyuubi, as well as trying to capture both of Iwa's jinchuriki and Suna's as well. Fact is, you need to make sure that you, B and your other jinchuriki are ready to fight the Akatsuki when they make their next move, which we have reason to believe may not be for a few years. And before you moan that you don't have the time to do so, I have a little secret that will make your life much easier, it is in a photo enclosed in the other envelope. Sorry I chose to tell it to you in that manner, but I could not resist._

_P.S: I personally recommend the book I am reading in the photo._

A almost eagerly opened the envelope. Though he did not particularly like the Yondaime Hokage, he did have a good deal of respect for the man, and if there really was a secret to beating paperwork, the bane of all kages, he would owe Minato big for letting him in on it.

A looked at the photo, initially confused. The first thing he saw was Minato sitting in a folding chair in his office, sipping at the straw of a lemonade with a book titled Tales of a Gutsy Ninja opened in his other hand, and enjoying a shoulder rub from his wife. While that looked relaxing, A could not see how that would beat paperwork. Then his eyes fell on the background, where he saw five other Minatos behind his desk… all of them doing the paperwork for the blonde Hokage.

…

Killer B was currently practicing his unique kenjutsu style in one of Kumo's more private training grounds when the cry of, "IIIIIIIIIIIIII"MMMMMMMMMMM FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" rang throughout the village. B froze.

"**Yo, **that sounded like **Bro**," he said **(A/N: to make it easier for you all, I will put B's rhymes in bold for you. I hope that I am writing him correctly, his style is rather… unique)**.

**"What was he so happy about?" **Gyuki asked.

Neither Bijuu or jinchuriki could continue to muse when A somehow materialized right in front of B, looking ecstatic before he put on a serious face. "B, I want you to bring Yugito around," he said. "The three of us are going to train to prepare for a storm that I got word was coming."

"Sho thing, but for just a second **wait. **Don't you have a lot of that paperwork you so **hate**?"

"Never again!" A declared, his ecstatic look coming back. "I finally know my most hated foe's weakness!"

"Okay, I'll **bite**. It's Shadow Clones, **right**?"

"Wait, how the hell did you know?

**"B, stop talking now!" **Gyuki shouted in his mind, but he was ignored.

"I figured it out about five years **back**," B said. "I was going to use it to prank you, though I would get a good **smack**."

"Oh, and just how were you going to prank me, pray tell?" A asked, getting angry that he had been kept in the dark of something that could have made his life a lot easier for five years.

"I was gonna show ya right after ya **caved**, giving me your job just to escape the paperwork. The look you would have had on your face, is the one I **faved**. Then I would have let you have back the **hat**, and ended it with **that**." B froze when he realized that A was flaring a high level of killing intent. "Uh-**oh**, I angered **Bro**."

**"You THINK!?"** Gyuki shouted.

"Iron Claw!" A shouted before his left hand started to crush B's head.

B's pleas for mercy from his brother were heard over the village.

….

Sasuke sat on the ground of one of the training grounds, thinking about the day's events. He was glad his brother was going to be Hokage for a few years, it would give Itachi a chance to help redeem their clan. Xackary had left with Borace after the meeting to ask the Elder Dimension's Ruling Council about bringing Naruto there for training. Meanwhile, Minato and Jiraiya were finalizing the plans for their own training trip. That left his own mission to ensure Akari's safety.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted and with two small puffs of smoke, a fledgling red with hawk that was one of Akaitori's **(I know I have been calling her Akaitora till now, but I misread the translation, the word I needed to use was tori, not tora, so my bad)** children and had three black streaks on his back, and a small grey snake no longer than Sasuke's forearm appeared. "Aoda, Narubutori, I have someone I need you two to keep an eye on for me. Just tail her whenever I am not around, and if she gets into trouble, I want you both to let me know immediately."

"Sure thing Sasuke-sama," Aoda said as Sasuke gave him a sample of Akari's scent, before the young snake slithered off.

Narubutori was about to fly off after his partner, but Sasuke stopped him. "There was another task I need you to do before you help Aoda keep Akari out of trouble," Sasuke started. "I want you to deliver a message to Naruto for me. Tell him to go to Felix's compound at around 4 today."

"Very well Sasuke," Narubutori said before he flew off.

**A/N: Yes, before you say anything after I post next chapter, I know that it is cruel for me to have gotten the job right before I got to said chapter, you will find out why next time, it will be titled, Where Did we Leave Off? **

**So read and review my story, and I will try to post next chapter ASAP! The more reviews I get, the harder I work! And if I get some fan art of some of my OC's loaded onto the internet, I would appreciate that, I am interested to see some renderings of my characters, particularly Felix and Drakmus.**


	33. Chapter 32: Where Did we Leave Off?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: So my reviews are still going strong, if I keep getting over ten a chapter, I will hit that average in no time! I have also hit 300, wa-hoo!**

** So this chapter will have something I KNOW a lot of you want to see, so enjoy!**

**Chapter 32: Where Did We Leave Off?**

Naruto walked the familiar path down to Felix's compound, a little confused as to why Sasuke called him there, though he had his suspicions. The next week, if all went according to plan, Naruto and Hinata would be departing for the Elder Dimension for the next couple of years and then the battles with the Akatsuki will begin. It certainly would make sense if Sasuke wanted to face Naruto one more time in the AOS room before they left, in order to know how far they both still had to go before they were ready to fight their enemies.

When Naruto stepped into the compound, he saw Ceilia and Felix having a serious conversation. "So his mind broke when I undid the seal on it, there was no getting around that," Ceilia said. "But with the Pulse Imprint Jutsu, I was able to get a few pieces of relevant information. It seems that he was sent to capture Hinata by Drakmus."

"That bastard is the one responsible for that?" Naruto growled angrily before Felix could reply to Ceilia, and both Elder Dimension knights turned to Naruto.

"Yes," Felix sighed. "If what Ceilia said was reliable, my old friend seems to have sunk to the tactic of taking hostages. I'm just glad that it did not work…"

"There's more," Ceilia said. "I was also able to pull another name from the man's shattered mind. Raizen, though I do not recognize the name."

"Odd," Felix said, his brow furrowed. "I don't know it either, but it strikes a familiar cord in my memory…"

"I heard it before," Naruto said immediately, earning surprised glances from both of the others. "When I first fought Drakmus, he mentioned that he was the right hand man of that guy. If you had heard of him before, he likely has at least a small reputation, and if he is powerful enough to have Drakmus follow him, then he is a serious threat…"

"I will have to ask around the Elder Dimension when we go there," Felix muttered. "But for now, we need to finish our preparations. Xackary has yet to return with the council's reply, but he sent a message saying that the signs were promising. And by the way, Sasuke is waiting outside the AOS room for you, he wanted to face you in an all out battle before we left."

"I knew it," Naruto said before he headed down the steps to the basement.

…

"So who do you guys think will win?" Jiraiya asked Minato, Kushina, Kakashi and Itachi as they waited for Naruto to show. Sasuke was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed as he contemplated the tactics he would use in the spar. Hinata was also present, having overheard Jiraiya telling Kakashi about it and wanting to see Naruto fight with no holds barred, and she glared at Saskue from time to time. It was clear that she was mad at the Uchiha that had caused Naruto so much grief in the other timeline.

"I am thinking Sasuke will take it," Itachi said. "Even though Naruto is strong, I have personally been training with Sasuke in that room, and he already has a handle on all of his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan powers, as well as his curse mark. As his brother, I can tell you that Sasuke will not be easy to beat, though I am sure that Naruto will be a good matchup for him."

"No way, my money is on my son!" Kushina shouted at Itachi, and Minato nodded in agreement.

Kakashi looked up from his Icha Icha book and said, "Hmm, they are both seriously strong already, and I honestly can't figure out who's stronger. So I will bet on it being a draw."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Jiraiya chuckled. "Okay, so we have Minato and Kushina betting on Naruto, Itachi betting on Sasuke and me and Kakashi will pool for the draw. Place your cash in this box." As soon as they all complied, Naruto, Felix, and Ceilia came down the stairs. Oddly enough, the moment Kakashi saw his three eyed girlfriend, his book disappeared so fast that you would have missed it if you blinked. Unlucky for Kakashi, Celia didn't blink.

"I told you to get rid of those, you pervert!" she shouted before she and Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke raised by the beating she was giving the Cyclops as he begged for mercy, causing everyone else to either sweat drop or laugh.

"Hey, I take it you wanted to face me again, since our last fight was cut off by that pedophile?" Naruto asked Sasuke, who gave a small smile back at the blonde.

"Yeah, that's right, we were interrupted last time by the invasion, weren't we?" Sasuke replied. "Guess we need to pick up where we left off."

"Something up Hinata?" Naruto asked as he saw the look she had been giving Sasuke out of the corner of her eye.

"… It's nothing, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied, though she sounded a little stiff when she did.

Naruto's eyes narrowed but he did not say anything. _"I forgot that she would remember all of Sasuke's actions as well," _he thought with slight disappointment. _"This could get problematic if she really is still mad at him for my sake… I'm going to have to try to talk to her, see if I can't get her to forgive Sasuke."_

"So what kind of environment do you two want to fight in?" Felix asked as he started to concentrate on the room, and reached for the door's handle.

Sasuke thought for a second before he turned to Naruto. "So what do you think of _that _place, for old time's sake?"

"Things didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted them to back then," Naruto said somewhat sadly when he realized what Sasuke was talking about.

"I'm not going to run off again" Sasuke replied. "I am no longer interested in getting the kind of power I would have to betray my comrades to obtain. I am here to stay this time."

"Alright then I have no issues. Give us the Valley of the End, Felix," Naruto said.

"Interesting choice, but I suppose the place has a lot of meaning for the both of you," Felix said as he opened the door. All present stepped through and Naruto and Sasuke jumped to the heads of the statues, Sasuke on Madara's and Naruto on Hashirama's. The spectators chose to wait in an area that was a little to the side and to be safe, Minato and Jiraiya put down a few barrier seals. Even if all damage in the AOS room would cease to be once the fight ended, no one wanted to get caught in the blasts of either fighter's attacks.

"Funny, they call this place the Valley of the End, but in truth, this is where so much has begun," Sasuke said. "In fact, this whole thing began with the battle between these two. But today, we are going to see how far we need to go if we are to keep our pledge to bring an end to what began here."

"Heh, you've got a long way to go if you want to catch up to me," Naruto said, drawing Arashikatta. Though the blade had been shattered and consumed by Drakmus's Hellfire, the hilt with the seals was still salvageable, and Felix was able to forge a replacement for the blade. Sasuke drew his own blade in response. They jumped at each other and their blades collided as they met in midair. They broke apart, and they landed at the feet of the statues before rushing each other again.

Their blades clashed several times, Sasuke conducting lightning chakra through his, and Naruto conducting wind, before Naruto managed to maneuver behind Sasuke and tried to strike, but without even looking, Sasuke was able to get his blade between Arashikatta and his back, blocking the strike before he twisted and kicked Naruto in the gut, staggering the blonde, who quickly formed a few hand seals. "Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!"

Naruto had expected Sasuke to jump back or otherwise dodge, but to his surprise, Sasuke dashed forward before diving to the side at near point blank range, and cut upwards with his blade and managed to nick Naruto on his cheek, this time conducting fire chakra. Naruto jumped back, realizing what Sasuke's tactic was. Though the Wind Scattershot was most powerful at close range, it's rage of attack was also more narrow, so Sasuke had gotten closer to make dodging easier, and even managed to cut Naruto a little.

"Gaah!" Naruto souted as the burning sensation in his cheek intensified, and Sasuke's fire chakra began to spread.

"Never knew what carefully refined fire chakra does when it gets in your system?" Sasuke asked with a smirk. "It literally burns its way into your body, spreading and increasing intensity. So in essence, it's potent poison."

"Not very nice," Naruto said as his healing factor kicked in, pushing back the deadly chakra and healing the damage it caused. Naruto then conducted some chakra though his ninjato. "But then, I doubt it's meant to be. Gale Slash!" he cried and sent the wind slash from Arashikatta at Sasuke, who ducked.

"Missed," the Uchiha smirked, before the slash curved upwards and hit the statue of Madara, blasting some rocks free, and they came down at Sasuke.

"That's a matter of perspective," Naruto chortled as Sasuke was buried beneath the rubble. "Come on, I know that it could not have been that easy." Sure enough, his word were answered by a lance of lightning bursting from the ground. Naruto was quick to dodge, and he dispelled a Shadow Clone he had set up during his attempt to bury Sasuke alive, and entered Sage Mode.

Sasuke came out of the ground after his Chidori Lance, finishing a few hand signs as he went. "Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" The blast of flame sped at Naruto, who formed a Rasengan, and used it to disperse the fireball. Keeping said Rasengan in his hand, he made a Shadow Clone, who supplied wind chakra. Once the Rasenshuriken had been formed, the clone started casting signs.

"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto shouted before he threw it at Sasuke, who immediately, made to jump aside, but felt his feet being sucked into the earth. "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld," the Shadow Clone said smugly as the Rasenshuriken blasted into Sasuke, but Naruto knew that he had only hit a Shadow Clone, thanks to Sage Mode, and he whipped around to face the rubble pile where he knew the real Sasuke was hiding, before he threw another Rasenshuriken, exiting Sage Mode in the process, at the pile. Sasuke burst from it as his curse seal spread its flame like designs over his body. "Amaterasu!" Sasuke shouted his left eye taking on the six-point star design with the straightened three-point shuriken now inside of them.

The Rasenshuriken was quickly consumed, and Naruto followed up the attack with several Hiraishin kunai, which Sasuke was quick to deflect, before he bit his thumb and cast signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" There was a large blast of smoke and Codra, along with Akaitori came to the battlefield.

"Oh, it's you," Akaitori said to Codra with a little disdain, causing Codra to glare a little at her.

"Cut it out you two," Sasuke said before Codra could respond scathingly. "I summoned you both to fight him, not each other," he pointed at Naruto, seemed to be thinking about how to beat his big problems. "By the way, I would not recommend swallowing him whole Codra, he can create thousands of Shadow Clones, and you do not want him to do that in your stomach, he did that to another snake, and he told me it was not pretty."

"That sounds like a bit of a horror story," Codra said. "I will keep it in mind."

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and Gamaken with Gamahiro appeared. "Ken, take the red hawk out, Hiro, I need you to keep the serpent at bay. Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Over 200 Naruto clones appeared and they charged at Sasuke while the two toads leapt into action. Codra struck at Gamahiro, who blocked with his katanas crossed, and Gamaken blocked a dive from Akaitori on his shield, and tried to strike the large hawk with his staff, but she was able to flap her wings to propel herself backwards, and avoided the attack.

Meanwhile, Sasuke made ten Shadow Clones, who set about holding off the Naruto clones, then he used the summoning jutsu again, this time summoning Narubutori and Aoda. Without a word, Aoda burrowed underground and Sasuke tossed a scroll to Narubutori, who caught it in his claws before he flew up above the Naruto army. The young hawk then skillfully maneuvered his claws and unfurled the scroll, and a large number of kunai with exploding tags unsealed themselves to rain down on the Naruto army. "I call that one Hawk Bomber," Sasuke said to the Naruto army, which paled rapidly as it saw the deadly explosives come down.

"Crap," the original said and the clones quickly scattered, a few being taken out by the exploding tags, and Sasuke began picking other clones off by throwing kunai, and his own clones were able to take out a few each themselves, before the scroll ran out of sealed exploding kunai, and the chaos ended with all of the Sasuke clones taken out and about thirty Naruto clones remaining.

Sasuke entered the Second State of his curse mark and formed two more Shadow Clones, and made two Rasengans as well, one in each hand. One clone supplied fire chakra to a Rasengan, while the other clone gave lightning chakra to the other Rasengan. "Fire Style: Rasenbomb!" Sasuke shouted as the Rasengan with fire chakra turned red and gained three spinning rings made of fire around it in an -x- pattern. He threw said Rasengan, into the remaining Naruto clones, and it exploded in a nearly forty foot radius. The clones were all dispelled and the original was thrown by the blast, slightly burned. The damage was not as great a Rasenshuriken would have inflicted, but it still hurt.

Naruto looked up in time to see Sasuke throw the Rasenlance, and tried to Hiraishin away. But when he warped to his destination, he was horrified to realize that he was still in the Rasenlance's path. He was impaled through the gut and thrown back. He rose, the wounds already healing, and he wondered why his Hiraishin took him to a location his kunai weren't at, when he eyes fell on Aoda, who was slithering away from the spot he had ended up, with all of his kunai on a wire in the little snake's mouth. That explained it. Sasuke was clever to have the little bastard do that.

Meanwhile, Gamahiro managed to pin Codra to the ground by impaling him with both katanas, but the snake escaped by shedding his skin and slamming into the toad's side. "Ughh, that's an annoying trick," Hiro growled as he once again used his katanas to try fending off his opponent, and his back slammed into Gamaken's as the self-proclaimed klutz backed away from another pass from Akaitori. This stopped both toads from getting away from their opponents, and Hiro took a bite on his shoulder, while Akaitori was able to seriously scratch Ken before the bird was whacked out of the air by Ken finally managing to hit her with that staff of his. Codra actually winced in sympathy for his ally.

Hiro was dismissed by Naruto and Akaitori by Sasuke, leaving Codra to fight Gamaken, but Naruto knew that Gamaken would likely lose, so he threw a kunai over Codra's head and flashed to it. "Codra, watch out!" Sasuke shouted as he realized what Naruto intended to do.

"Summoning Jutsu: Food Cart Destroyer Technique!" Naruto shouted, and Gamabunta appeared to fall down, narrowly missing Codra, who was able to understand Sasuke's warning in time to avoid the attack.

"Rats, almost had ya," Bunta said as he drew his knife.

"Your summoner will have to do better than that, Bunta," Codra chuckled.

"Well, come on then, I wouldn't mind another snakeskin wallet to go with the one I made with Manda's body," Bunta said and Codra looked at his opponent with a little confusion.

"What in the name of Kami would you need a wallet for, not that I particularly mind that you used Manda's skin for one, it serves the snobbish bastard right."

"Eh, it's more of a trophy than anything else, though it does come in handy for carrying a few snacks for Gamatatsu. I swear, that son of mine is insatiable when it comes to those."

Codra laughed. "I kind of wish Manda would come back to life, just so I could see his face when he learned what his skin was being used for by his worst enemy."

"If you weren't a snake yourself, I could actually get along with you," Bunta said while roaring with laughter at that thought. "But for now, we gotta fight, just to see who's stronger, your summoner or one of mine, and the strength of their summons is a pretty important in that equation."

"Fair enough," Codra stated before he lunged, and had to be smacked back by Gamaken's shield. Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke had migrated their battle to the top of Hashirama's face, and went at it sword to sword, Naruto having dispelled a clone he had hidden during the earlier brawl between the army he had had and Sasuke, entering Sage Mode to keep up with Sasuke's improved Second State. It was initially successful, but he was eventually caught by a hand of Sasuke's Susanoo as he materialized that part alone. He was able to escape using Hiraishin, thanks to the seals he had put on the trees and rocks, so Aoda could not mess with their locations again.

Sasuke completely formed his Susanoo and fired a volley of Amaterasu arrows at Naruto, who was able to avoid all but one, which grazed his left arm, setting the black flames on it. Acting fast, Naruto placed a Regeneration Seal on his arm and cut off the burning part. That part regenerated, though the burns caused before the seal's placement remained. His healing factor was enough to handle that, fortunately.

"All right, try this," Naruto said as he made a Shadow Clone and cast one of his jutsu. "Earth Style: Rock Fist!" Stone encased Naruto's left hand and he formed a Rasengan in that hand, with his clone adding earth chakra. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he wondered what Naruto was up to, and also noted that the blonde still had the Regeneration Seal on his left arm, so he must have put more chakra than was needed to regrow the arm after cutting it off into the seal for some reason. He looked up at the sky and saw that some of the clouds were beginning to gather above where the heat generated from the fires of Amaterasu.

_"Just a little bit more," _Sasuke thought before he turned his gaze back to Naruto, who was holding a Rasengan that had developed a rocky shell that was covered by rocky spikes that were spinning.

"Earth Style: Rasenmace!"

**A/N: Author Art: Cliffhanger Jutsu! Yeah, I know, you all hate me for that. How is the fight between the two main characters so far? Who do you all think will win?**

**I would like to hear Colin's idea if he would like to share it, and would like to tell him to get an account so I can respond to his reviews without having to put it in a chapter.**

**I put out the first chapter of Dissidia, and a Bit More out, my second fanfic. Check it out and please leave a review if you like it!**

**I also have another poll, one that has no effect on the story, but just something that interests me. The poll will be, who is your favorite OC I made, based on what you have seen so far?**

**Next chapter will be the last one before the one Naruto and Hinata depart for the Elder Dimension. Now I have a question… should I have the chapters after that be dedicated solely on Naruto and Hinata, or should I cover Sasuke and Akari's training as well? There will be an interesting development that will be revealed a little earlier if the latter option is decided on, but it's up to the answers from reviewers to make me decide.**

**So please keep reviewing!**


	34. Chapter 33: My Friend's Dream

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: The battle between Naruto and Sasuke finishes in this chapter, and Sasuke will tell Itachi his true reason for trying to become Hokage, I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Chapter 33: My Friend's Dream**

"Wow, so far I have seen four single element variations of my jutsu," Minato said as he saw the Rasenmace. "All that is left is water, but I doubt either one of them will use that. But why did Naruto cover that arm in rocks first?"

"Because the Rasenmace is the one single-element Rasengan that cannot be thrown, so he created a little bit of an extra layer of defense, though it is actually the most powerful single-element Rasengan," Felix said, earning looks from everyone present. "I'll show you all the single element forms real quick." He made a Shadow Clone and formed a Rasengan. "First, wind." A Rasenshuriken formed. "This one has the advantage of being the second easiest to hit an enemy with, due to its expansion ability, and has the unique ability to do damage to an enemy through their chakra network via countless needle like attacks, though it can also physically tear into an enemy with the wind blades. Now lightning," he dispelled the Rasenshuriken and a Rasenlance formed. "This one is actually the second hardest to hit an enemy with, due to its lack of area effect, but it literally drills its way through most defenses with ease, even killing someone who survived a two element Rasengan. Then there's water." A blue Rasengan seemingly made of water and spinning in one direction with a little whirlpool in the center spinning in the other. "This is the Rasentide, and it also expands, though not quite as far as the Rasenshuriken. Once an enemy is caught in it, they get drawn into the center. While it does not do very much damage, it is useful for restraining an enemy long enough to hit them with a powerful follow-up, and it takes a lot of force to break free from it, so it is useful against enemies that need restraining rather than being beaten with brute force. Now fire." He made the one Sasuke had called a Rasenbomb. "This one is the easiest to hit an opponent with, because of the blast radius, but it is also the weakest in the damage department against single enemies with the exception of the Rasentide, unless you are directly hit before it explodes, so it is best for dealing with multiple foes that are weaker than you, or flushing enemies out of hiding. Finally there is the Rasenmace, the earth style Rasengan, which cannot be thrown because it loses momentum too fast due to its weight. That means that it needs to be hit directly against your opponent, or dropped from above. This makes it not only the hardest to hit a foe with, but also the most dangerous to use. But it is also the most powerful one, because it literally grinds the opponent to dust and even does more damage than the Solid Rasenshuriken, which is basically a Rasenshuriken, but with a bit of earth chakra added, not enough to make a blend between a Rasenmace and Rasenshuriken, but enough to make all of the countless attacks grind into the opponent with more force, causing a great deal of external damage, as well as internal. But the Rasenmace is really stronger, but is overall much less practical, unless you have a way to keep your arm from being pulverized."

Meanwhile, Sasuke had jumped on top of Codra's head, with his Susanoo still active, and it used its blades to help fend off both of the toads, while Codra weaved away from Naruto to avoid the Rasenmace. Sasuke switched the Susanoo chakra blades out for the bow and fired Amaterasu arrows at Naruto, who dodged all of them before he used chakra chains to catch Codra, who escaped by shedding his skin again, but Naruto countered by throwing a kunai at Sasuke, and using Hiraishin. Sasuke saw the coming and fired an arrow beforehand at the kunai, where he was sure Naruto would flash to. The timing on Sasuke's part was perfect. Trouble was, his placement wasn't.

What he did not know was that Naruto had placed one of the kunai at the end of one of his chakra chains. When Codra escaped from the chains restraining him, the chain with the kunai whipped in Sasuke's direction, flinging the kunai at his back, while Naruto had diverted his attention with the other kunai. "Shit!" Sasuke shouted as his arrow passed through thin air and he realized that Naruto must have flashed to a different location, quickly deducing where. He whipped around in time to watch the Rasenmace blast through his Susanoo without even slowing, though that caused a shock to Naruto's arm, dismantling the layer of protection that he had created with his Rock Fist Jutsu, and cracking the bones in his left arm.

Thinking fast, Sasuke conducted lightning chakra through his blade and formed a Chidori through his left hand and blasted both sources of lightning chakra into the Rasenmace in an attempt to cancel out the earth chakra. It was partially successful, as the Rasenmace weakened before it exploded, the blast launching both Naruto and Sasuke off of Codra's head, blasting Naruto into the side of the cliff while  
Sasuke was lucky enough to get a softer landing in the water, and causing the snake's head to slam into the ground with a lot of force. Dazed, Codra rose and his vision focused in time to see Gamabunta and Gamaken rushing him from either side.

Codra acted fast enough to open his mouth and spray Gamaken with his spitting venom, before turning to Gamabunta and he managed to get him a little too, before Gamabunta's knife came down and drove through the top of Codra's head, though the roof of his mouth, and finally his jaw and pinned him to the ground.

_"Ow… funny how I used to wish something this humiliating would happen to Manda," _Codra thought with irritation. _"At least the wound will vanish once I am out of this interesting room, if Sasuke's claims are to be believed."_

"Damn, that stings," Gamabunta snarled as he tried to scrub Codra's venom off of him, while Gamaken was trying to roll off his stronger dose of it.

"Better dismiss you guys," Naruto groaned as he rose from the rubble caused by his impact, his left arm almost completely destroyed from using the Rasenmace, though the damage was quickly healing thanks to the Regeneration Seal. Gamabunta and Gamaken disappeared in a burst of smoke, taking Bunta's knife with them. Codra also vanished after Sasuke resurfaced, clearly banged up by the Rasenmace himself.

Sasuke stood on the water and gazed at Naruto and said, "Amazing. The Solid Rasenshuriken would have been slowed by my Susanoo, but that Rasenmace tore through it like it was paper. But since it obviously can't be thrown, it is far less practical, especially after taking into account the damage it did to your arm. If it weren't for the Regeneration Seal, it would be an unusable jutsu, unless you were willing to pay an arm. You sure do know how to use the greatest treasure of your clan to good effect."

"You of all people should know that," Naruto said with a smirk, and Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan activated briefly and he smiled.

"Yeah, thanks to that, neither me nor Itachi will have to worry about going blind. But using the Regeneration Seal takes up a lot of chakra, right?"

"Yeah, I'm just about out, which is why I am going to do this now," Naruto said, and red chakra bubbled up from his body and took up a very dark shade as he went down on all fours. Four tails whipped out as the cloak became a Version Two.

_"Let's see,"_ Sasuke thought, assessing his remaining reserves_ "I probably have enough chakra left for as many as three more elemental Rasengans, with one more Chidori thrown in, maybe a few shots from the Susanoo, as long as I only materialize the needed parts. It's a good thing I have better reserves and control than I did at this point last time, thanks to having a better curse seal, and having trained in control exercises earlier on, otherwise, I would be close to out by now. After that, I won't have much left at all, but what I have now should be enough to win this if I use it carefully…"_

"They really are both alarmingly close to kage level by now, aren't they?" Jiraiya asked as he watched Naruto form a Bijuu Bomb. "And that is just at the very least, they probably are already there now."

Naruto fired off the blast at Sasuke, who seemed to have his escape planned. The bomb exploded and sent shock waves throughout the simulated valley. When the smoke cleared, Naruto looked around, but could not find a trace of Sasuke anywhere. **"Come on, I know that you would not have let that vaporize you for the fun of it," **the four tailed blonde said as he looked around.

_"Good, he still has not caught on yet," _Sasuke thought from below ground, right under Naruto's location. He formed two Shadow Clones and held out two Rasengans to them. One clone gave him fire chakra, forming the Rasenbomb, and the other gave him water chakra, giving him a Rasentide. _"Bet no one thought I was good enough with water manipulation to do that yet," _Sasuke thought with a smirk as the arms and bow of his Susanoo formed, and one of the clones dispelled, leaving the other on standby. The Susanoo fired the arrow straight up. Naruto sensed the danger at the last moment and managed to jump out of the way, the arrow blasting a hole through the ground as it came up, allowing Sasuke to throw the Rasenbomb at the sky before he jumped up though the hole, forming a Rasengan in his freshly empty hand, and his clone followed, giving it lightning chakra as they went. Sauke threw the newly formed Rasenlance up at Naruto, who extended one of his chakra arms to grab a tree and pull himself out of the way, only to get caught in the thrown Rasentide, which surprised everyone who had not expected to see it.

Of course, despite the disorientating spinning in the center of the water prison, a transformed jinchuriki could have fairly easily broken free if given a few seconds. Unfortunately, Sasuke did not even give Naruto one second. Before Naruto was even fully out of the way of the Rasenlance, Sasuke had fired a Susanoo arrow at the lightning element Rasengan. While the Rasenlance was much more powerful than a Susanoo arrow, the arrow was a fair bit faster, allowing it to be used to redirect a Rasenlance it is hit at an angle. Itachi raised an eyebrow as he recognized the tactic he used to use to hit hidden targets with kunai. Seemed Sasuke continued to draw inspiration from his brother.

Before Naruto could even fully register that he was trapped in a water type Rasengan, the Rasenlance penetrated the water dome and struck the blonde in the chest. Under normal circumstances, the chakra cloak would have repelled the Rasenlance to an extent that it would have failed to penetrate, though Naruto would have been carried back a good distance before the Rasenlance died out. But since he was held in place by the Rasentide, the Rasenlance was able to drill its way through his chest after being momentarily stalled, and as a bonus, Naruto got a fairly good shock as the watery prison conducted the lightning. The Rasentide then burst apart and Naruto was released, his chest wound already healing.

Sasuke's curse seal regressed into its first state, and he started panting hard. He now had only a little chakra left after using three consecutive elemental Rasengans, the first of which had exploded in the atmosphere, heating it up quite a bit. "So he intends to use that jutsu," Itachi mused as he looked into the sky, confusing his fellow spectators before he clarified. "It's a rather potent one that takes advantage of natural lightning, so it requires an almost nonexistent amount of chakra from the user to guide to a target once it is set up properly. It was powerful enough to completely destroy my Susanoo, though that defense was just enough for me to survive the attack."

Naruto took a step at Sasuke, not knowing why his rival was still so confident when so low on chakra, when there was a boom of thunder and he looked up to see the gathered thunder clouds, and a very intimidating dragon made of lightning poke its head out of said clouds. "This is one of my own original jutsu," Sasuke said as he allowed his curse seal to fully regress. "It's name is Kirin. Be gone, with a clap of thunder." The dragon roared as the lightning flashed. Naruto had tried to form a Bijuu Bomb to hit Sasuke with, but the speed of the lightning reaching him was too fast for him to have a chance to fire it, so it just added to the blast he had to withstand.

"Naruto!" Hinato cried out before Felix reminded her of the room's properties.

Itachi gave a low whistle. "He must have been able to gather more lightning than before, that must have been at least twice as powerful as the one he used against me, and that is not taking into account the ill-advised Bijuu Bomb." He looked at what was left of the two statues, which was little more than the lower part of their waists down. If this was the real Valley of the End, he knew that a lot of the villagers would pitch a fit upon seeing the monument destroyed.

Sasuke meanwhile had managed to jump far enough back to avoid the worst of the shockwave. When all the smoke cleared, Naruto was lying on his back with the chakra cloak having been blown away, and he was covered in burns. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, and confirmed it was the original Naruto before the blonde groaned and rose to his feet.

"Damn, that hurt like hell, you ass," Naruto growled at Sasuke, who actually laughed.

"Well, short of killing, it's kind of meant to," the Uchiha said somewhat defensively.

"Good point. What do you have left in your reserves, anyway?"

"Just this," Sasuke responded as he created a Chidori.

Naruto chuckled and a Rasengan was formed in response. "Another one of those clashes, huh?" They stared at each other before they charged, and their attacks met.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

The techniques repelled each other for a moment, before they both exploded and Naruto and Sasuke were thrown back again. For a moment, they lay were they fell, before Sasuke, then Naruto rose very unsteadily to their feet. For a moment, they looked intensely at each other, before Sasuke's eyes glazed and he collapsed unconscious.

For a moment, both Naruto and the spectators were silent before the surroundings faded and they were all once again outside of the AOS room, and Sasuke got up, annoyed that he had been the first to keel over during the fight.

"Hah!" Kushina shouted at the grumbling Itachi, Kakashi and Jiraiya as the latter gave a grinning Minato the box of cash. "Looks like that last ramen date before you are gone is all paid for."

"You bet against me, Ero-Sennin!?" Naruto shouted in indignation.

"Actually, I bet on a draw," Jiraiya said, before he and Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Ouch, geroff me!"

"A draw huh, so you really didn't bother to figure out which of us is tougher, that makes it sooooo much better," Naruto snarled the last part sarcastically as his fists continued to connect. Once Naruto finished venting, Sasuke cleared his throat.

"Looks like you got me that time," the Uchiha said, still a little miffed. "But you don't want to slack off on your training. I intend to get stronger over the next few years, so if you get cocky, I'll be Hokage before you can even look at the hat eagerly. So make sure you can keep up while you are gone."

"Need you even tell me that teme?" Naruto grinned before he held out his hand to Sasuke, took it to form the reconciliation seal. Everyone but those two, Itachi and Hinata had left the room, and Naruto decided to exit as well. Sasuke started to follow, but he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt.

He turned around to see Hinata looking hard at him. "I just want you to know," she said with more force than one would expect from the normally shy girl. "That I have not forgotten the actions of the past timeline. All that you have done has caused Naruto-kun to suffer a great deal. However," her expression softened a little. "Naruto-kun has forgiven you, and while the emotions you put him through cannot be erased, your crimes have been undone. As much as I once detested you, I respect Naruto-kun's wishes more. So I will keep an open mind about you from here on out." She left the room and Sasuke sighed with relief. Frankly, he felt he deserved worse from his best friend's soul mate, since his best friend himself refused to let him have it.

"Just out of curiosity," Itachi asked Sasuke before the younger brother could follow after Hinata. "Why is it you are determined to become Hokage? That job does not strike me as one you would fancy for any reason. It surely can't be just to mend the rift between the village and our clan, that can be done by Naruto as Hokage, he more than has the ability."

"You're right, he has plenty of what is needed to lead the village down the right road, and if he continues to improve, he really will surpass all that came before him, in any village, not just Konoha. I seriously doubt that I will ever be able to be stronger than him again, but I can at least follow from behind him, pushing him ahead of me. Once, you told Kabuto that the key to understanding who he was was accepting what he could and could not do, and having comrades to help him with the latter. I know that alone, I could not hope to succeed in saving both the our clan and the village from having the end result between them being a similar fate to what happened before.

"That's why… I intend to grow stronger myself, so Naruto will work to stay ahead of me. As long as he can still see me whenever he looks back, he will continue to gain in strength, and when he finally reaches his dream, I will finally be able to stand at his side, ready help him any way I can from there."

"I see," Itachi said before he smiled. "I remember telling you that no matter what you chose to do, I would always give you my unconditional love, even if I was disappointed by whatever choice you made. While love for family should be unconditional, pride in family members has to be earned. You have truly matured Sasuke, for I can at last say that I am proud to have you as my brother."

Sasuke seemed very touched by this.

…..

Drakmus was very concerned for his master. Raizen had just come through a rift with his head bowed and his hand on the eye holes of his armor, blood dripping from them. "My lord…" Drakmus said as Raizen sat down on his seat.

"Using these eyes to convert so many followers at once," Raizen mused. "While I easily have the chakra to do so, the Mangekyo Sharingan's light is slowly fading… I am now almost completely blind. That is almost certainly why Obito gave them to me, he hoped to weaken me over time like this. He is a clever bastard, I'll give him that. Unfortunately for him, I am a step ahead. I already have a plan to get a replacement set, one whose light won't fade…"

"I thought you said it was too risky to try attacking Itachi yet, and you had plans for Sasuke?" Drakmus asked.

"No, as I said, I have a plan to get another set of the Eternal Mangekyo. In the meantime, I will have these regular Mangekyo eyes preserved, until the time comes to use them on Sasuke."

**A/N: So by the end of next chapter, Naruto and Hinata will both be in the Elder Dimension. I hope you all enjoyed the battle between Naruto and Sasuke, as well as the descriptions of each elemental Rasengan.**

**Due to a lack of popularity it seems that Dissidia and a Bit More seems to have, I will probably abandon it if it does not improve after a few chapters, so if you actually like the idea behind it, please check it out and review.**

**By the way, I am loving the amount of reviews I am getting, please keep them coming, I am rapidly approaching my goal, and would still like to reach it by Chapter 40. I am also getting only a few votes for my OC popularity contest, so if you have yet to check the poll out, please go to my profile.**

**So read, enjoy, and most importantly, REVIEW!**


	35. Chapter 34: Departures

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews all of you, I got some positive feedback on the elemental Rasengans, and am looking forward myself to showing what I will be calling Elemental Style: Final Rasengan.**

**So now Naruto and Hinata will both go to the Elder Dimension for training until the beginning of the Shippuden arc, and Minato and Jiraiya will head for Myoboku to hopefully get strong enough to combat their enemies.**

**Chapter 34: Departures**

Minato felt like banging his head against the table repeatedly. Xackary had returned with Borace from the Elder Dimension and informed the group that Naruto was to be given free reign to go there. That meant that the plan to get Hinata and Naruto betrothed was now needed to get both of them to safety. So Minato and Kushina were now in meeting with Hiashi and the Hyuuga elders. There was already quite a bit of resistance from the elder's side of things, but because Hiashi was not only the clan head, but Hinata's father, so the final say as to whether the contract would be signed or not was his. Both Hinata and Naruto had already agreed to it, so Hiashi had no issues with signing the betrothal contract. But the elders were now refusing to stop being a headache. One of them had just brought up another issue.

"I absolutely will not allow it!" Kushina shouted at the offender, slamming both of her hands onto the table. "If you think that you are going to put that abomination of a seal on my future daughter in law's forehead, you are sadly mistaken!"

"You have no idea what you are talking about, it is a necessity to protect our bloodline," one of the elders replied. "If you think we are going to let a Hyuuga be married outside of the clan without the Caged Bird Seal on her, _you're _the one who is sadly mistaken."

"You should fix that leaky sewer pipe you call a mouth," Kushina said to the elder scathingly. "And if that seal only protected your bloodline, I would have no issues with it, but you completely bastardized the version you were given by my clan, and now make the Cadet Branch into slaves. You all make me sick."

"Watch your tongue!" a rather old woman in the council demanded. "The Cadet Branch need to be kept in their place. They are the inferior members of our clan, and you have no say in these matters anyway. Hinata will be branded. That's final."

"It is not," Minato said.

"You may be Hokage, but this is a clan matter, you have no say in it," another elder glared at Minato.

"Actually, I do. While under normal circumstances, I do not have the authority to go against the matters of your clan, I am privileged with the right to have a say in what happens with my family, whether or not they are a part of someone else's clan. Since Hinata will become my daughter in law, I can say that she is not to have the seal placed on her."

"How dare you! If you think that we will allow you to-,"

"It's out of your hands," Minato said. "I can tell you that if you try to do a thing to put the seal on Hinata, despite my edict, I will come to make several arrests. And if that is not intimidating enough, I will bring Kushina along to assist me. AFTER I tell her where Naruto and I last hid her katana."

Somehow, the Hyuugas went even paler than before. They knew of Kushina's reputation for her ferocity, and the idea of her coming for their blood was not the most attractive one they could imagine. Unfortunately for Minato, they weren't the only ones who suddenly had reason to fear.

"So _that's _why I could never seem to find it when I wanted to use it on someone, and yet you both always seemed able to produce it whenever you felt I would actually need it?" Kushina asked, leaking enough killer intent to make Minato really fear for his life.

"Can we talk about this later please?" Minato asked rather desperately.

"Fine, but I will make both you and Naruto pay for it later."

"So if that is all, our business is concluded," Hiashi said to an anime tear weeping Minato. "Lord Yondaime, I will make sure that my daughter does not have the Caged Bird placed on her." The grumblings of the elders were ignored and Hiashi handed Minato the betrothal contract.

"Well that went well," Minato said a little proudly.

"Except that now you need to plan yours and Naruto's funerals," Kushina seethed, still upset about finding out why her katana had always seemed to be "misplaced."

"In our defenses, it likely saved a lot of lives, what we did."

…..

"What are you doing here, Chicken-Butt?" the six year old red head asked Sasuke as he arrived at Ichiraku's. She ignored the tick mark he got at the Chicken-Butt comment, and Naruto just chuckled.

"I am here to inform you that instead of going to the academy," Sasuke started. "I will be personally training you privately."

Akari frowned in confusion at this. "I thought you had to have the rank of jonin to take a personal apprentice?"

"I am one. And your parents have already approved the idea of me being your sensei."

"Cool! So what will you teach me first, Chicken-Butt sensei?" **(A/N: Yes, I will be using your idea, guest 777, please get an account so you can pm me more ideas)**

Naruto sprayed a mouthful of broth as he failed to contain his laughter that Akari used the honorific in addition to insulting Sasuke's hair. Sasuek gained a few more tick marks before his face took on a scary expression, as though an idea that he would like and someone else wouldn't had come to mind. _"Six years old or, not, I will put her through training from hell for that," _Sasuke thought with malicious glee._"I am going to enjoy this."_

"You're going to regret calling him Chicken-Butt sensei," Naruto warned his sweating sister as she took in Sasuke's expression.

…

"Don't you even think about hooking up with anyone else while you are gone, you hear me?" Tsunade said to Jiraiya, who was already wearing his pack and had come to visit his fiancé at the hospital before he and Minato left for Myoboku. "I didn't accept your proposal to hear about you cheating on me."

"What, you really don't have any faith in me?" Jiraiya asked in mock hurt, before he saw Tsunade's face. "Don't answer that. But seriously, there are not that many dating opportunities where my former student and I are going. Who do you expect me to go out with, Shima?" He shuddered at the thought of sharing dinner with the old toad, before Fukusaku killed him with that staff he used to use to torture, er, train him with.

"All the same, I do know your tendencies, so if I do find out you did something I wouldn't like, I will borrow a rusty pair of toenail clippers from the Inuzuka clan, place a Regeneration Seal on your nether regions, and castrate you over and over again."

Jiraiya sweat dropped at the horrifying threat, before he heard an accurate imitation of a whipping noise coming from the direction of the window. "Oh, like you're one to talk Minato," the perverted sage retorted as he turned to see his student sitting comfortably in the sill, his pack also on hand. Minato laughed while Tsunade shouted at him, something about no one ever using the door these days.

"Speaking of which, we had better make tracks," Minato said, suddenly looking nervous. "Kushina is after me right now. I let it slip during the meeting with the Hyuuga elders yesterday that Naruto and I have been hiding her katana from her all the time, and she is not happy about that. I was able to distract her from it until this morning, but she still wants to beat me into the ground. Luckily, I was able to ditch her, and she's probably still chasing my Shadow- oh crap, she just caught it, and now she knows that I am already planning on leaving the village."

"We'd better get going then eh?" Jiriaya laughed as there was an angry shout from a spot in the village a fair distance away.

"Run for it!" Minato shouted hysterically as his wife's shouting was getting closer at an alarming rate.

"This time, use the-," Tsunade was left unable to finish when both Jiraiya and Minato jumped out the window, and ran as fast as they could from the hospital. Two seconds later, a red blur ran through the streets of Konoha in their direction, shouting for their blood. Tsunade sighed, reached for her sake bottle and muttered, "I will never be able to break them of going in and out through windows. So help me, if Naruto ends up following their example-,"

"Hey, Baa-chan, just thought I'd drop by to say good-bye," Naruto said from the open window, and there was a cracking noise as the sake bottle in Tsunade's hands felt a bit of pressure, as much as she could exert on it without shattering it and wasting her precious elixir.

"NARUTO!"

…..

Itachi sat beside four Shadow Clones as he and they attacked the piles of paperwork. It was no wonder Minato had hated it so much, if it was not for Shadow Clones, it would quickly overwhelm someone. But now that the one weakness of the Bane of all Kages was known, Itachi was only mildly busy with it. He chuckled as he remembered Minato telling him that if he was faced with a choice of never using Shadow Clones again, or calling Kushina old and fat while she was sharpening a kunai, he would have a very tough choice.

There was a knock on the door, and Itachi said, "Enter."

Danzo entered the room, and his eyebrow rose as he took in the Shadow Clones. _"So that is the blasted reason I was never able to pull anything on Minato for the past few years, if he used clones to actually read the paperwork through rather than skim it, I was unable to slip any subtle documents that would help me wrest some power from him unnoticed," _Danzo thought with mild irritation. "You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" Danzo asked the newly appointed village leader.

"Yes Danzo. It has come to my attention that you are still going with your ROOT program, despite the Yondaime's edict that you were to disband it." Thanks to Itachi's involvement with Danzo in the previous timeline, he knew enough about the war hawk's more secret projects, and was able to send ANBU to investigate discretely so he could gather enough evidence for them.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Save it," Itachi said and he tossed several files with the evidence to Danzo, who looked them over and seethed when he read enough to understand he would not be able to weasel his way out of this. "I will not bother to listen to your arguments as to why you do your unethical, underhanded schemes," Itachi stated as he took the files back. "I know full well that you have the villages best interests at heart, but the ends do NOT always justify the means Danzo. Period. That said, I want you to terminate all projects that were on those files, and I will have ANBU watching you to make sure you don't get the idea to start your projects back up. If you do anything to try to evade said ANBU, I will assume that you are trying to restart a project and consider it treason against the village, and place you under arrest. You will be penalized based on the extent of your actions. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Danzo gritted his teeth in silent fury.

….

"Are you both ready to go?" Felix asked as Naruto finished packing with Hinata's help.

"Yep," Naruto said as he sealed his pack in a scroll. "Now let's hurry up and leave, before ma either catches dad and kills him, and comes to finish her payback, or by some miracle, Dad escapes her wrath, and she comes at me to take her frustration and start her revenge anyway."

Both Hinata and Felix chuckled before the latter shattered the air. "Shall we?" Naruto nodded and while Felix stood back, stepped into the rift. Immediately, Felix, felt a jolt of pain and quickly followed, and the pain passed. "Good to know it works the same way as your mother predicted," Felix said and the rift closed behind them once Hinata had stepped through, looking rather nervous about leaving the dimension she had been born in. they nodded to each other as they took in their grey and shifting surroundings.

"Is this the Elder Dimension?" Naruto asked, confused. "Gloomy place…"

"No, this is the place between dimensions," Felix replied. "To go to our destination, I need to open up another rift, and keep in mind which dimension and what place in it I want to come out at. Like this." The air broke again, and they stepped through, into a clearing in front of a large stone building ijn the general appearance of a medieval fortress . "Welcome to the Elder Dimension's Yoshoryuu clan compound."

**A/N: It seems that there are some people who are unaware of the fact that they are allowed three votes for the popularity poll. I did this to keep all votes from going to Felix, because I felt that he would be almost unanimous in it. So if you only voted for him, you still have two more to see who runner-ups are!**

**As for when Naruto gets the Rinnegan, I will have it awaken during another run in with Drakmus, near the end of his and Hinata's stay in the Elder Dimension. I also wanted to address another idea I had. I definitely will not have Naruto control six corpses, but I do have an idea I think is original and will still have him make good use of the Six Paths ability. I intend to have him make seven chakra receiving earrings, wear one himself, and give the other six to his some of his loved ones. He will not actually control their movements unless it is to get them out of danger, it will mainly allow him to share one power with each of them, and also let him see what they see, and they will be able to view his line of sight as well. Their eyes will not have the appearance of the Rinnegan unless the abilities are actually active, and they will still have access to their own abilities. One of the better parts is that since Naruto does not have to control their movements, he won't have to use that much chakra for that use of the power.**

**So if you like the idea, please let me know via reviews, and give me ideas on who he would share his power with. I have already decided that if I put the idea to use, I will make Hinata the Animal Path, and Sasuke the Deva Path. Like I said of course, the idea is still on the table, so if there are reviewers who do not want to see this, they just have to let me know, and if there are enough valid concerns, I will scrap it. **

**So read, and review please!**


	36. Chapter 35: The Yoshoryuus

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I did it! I have hit an average of ten reviews a chapter! Thank you all so much, keep it up! Let's shoot for 15!**

**I've gotten some very good support for my idea on the Six Paths. I did not want to use dead bodies, as I said, so I actually gave some serious thought to having Naruto create something called Blood Clones, which is the same thing as Shadow Clones, but with blood added to make them more durable, (Blood Clones have been made in previous fics, though not for the purpose of using them as Paths) and use those, but that would have meant coming up with a reason his Shadow Clones could not use his Paths, and why his Blood Clone Paths would only use one, and it just was not worth it. I thought about just not having Naruto use that ability in the first place, but I did not want to strip him of one of the more useful powers. So I came up with something original. I have pretty much decided to go for it.**

**So the Elder Dimension is finally introduced, and we will be meeting a few of the major characters in it, all from Felix's clan.**

**Chapter 35: The Yoshoryuus**

"It has been far too long Felix," the man who greeted them at the door stated before suddenly embracing the stoic man who had helped Naruto so much. "Welcome home Brother."

"It's good to see you again Kyle," Felix said as he returned the embrace before they broke apart. Naruto noticed that Felix's older brother was missing his left hand before remembering the story Felix had told him, about Kyle losing it when he was nearly caught by troops commanded by the same bastard who warped Markus's mind. Kyle also had dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail, signifying his main affinity to the earth element, as well as burning red eyes and a green dragon tattoo on his right hand. His pants were loose fitting and a gold color, leaving a dark blue short sleeved shirt to signify water as his weakest element. "How are matters with the clan while I was gone?"

"Well, it was a little difficult you gone, you being the head and all, but Erika and I were able to handle most of the matters. It's not like we could have appointed a new head in your absence, not while you were still alive, and laws dictate that the only the chosen wielder of Elemental Infinity can have the full privileges of clan head, but we did alright as stand-ins."

Both Naruto and Hinata smiled at the little family reunion, before there was a whooshing sound and the flat end of a frying pan collided with Felix's face with a Bong! noise and launch him into the wall, blasting out quite a crater. The frying pan's wielder was a woman who looked pretty damn mad. Her hair was the same color as Felix's eyes, and her own eyes were the same shade of green as his hair. The tattoo on her right hand was a dark brown, and her form fitting jeans were bright red and her tank top blue. She was about as well endowed as the future Ino. Strangely, Kyle was nowhere to be found at the moment.

"Thirteen. Years!" the woman shouted as she straddled Felix, grabbing the front of his sleeveless vest with one hand and bringing the frying pan down repeatedly on the poor man's head with the other. "You left me and our two children for thirteen," Bong! "Whole," Bong! "YEARS!" BONG! There was a dent the shape of Felix's face in the frying pan after that last blow. Naruto and Hinata were hugging each other and weeping anime tears in mortal terror as they watched their ally get beaten by who was apparently his wife.

"Sorry Erika, but I had little choice in the matter," Felix begged, several anime style lumps on his head and blood running down his face as he did so. "At least I came home earlier than you expected. Thank Kami for loopholes." Erika's expression softened and she embraced Felix.

"I'm glad you were able to come home sooner than expected," she said tenderly. Kyle returned at this point now that it was safe, a bit of a nervous expression on his face. "Come on, our kids are waiting for you at the training grounds."

"Why did she use a frying pan on him rather than the classic rolling pin?" Hinata asked Naruto in an undertone.

"The frying pan probably hurts more," Naruto muttered back. "Lucky for Dad that Mom never figured that out."

…..

"Very good timing Fukusaku," Minato panted. "If you hadn't Reverse Summoned us at that moment, Kushina would have had me for sure."

"Seems some of the Gaki's luck has rubbed off on ya," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "Bet Kushina is fuming right about now."

"Well, let's get you two fed, then we can start your Sage training Minato-boy, and finish Jiraiya-boy's," Fukusaku said with a chuckle, nervously praying that Kushina wouldn't be so mad she'd come all the way here for revenge, whatever Minato had done.

Minato suddenly shivered. "Why do I get the feeling that I am in for even worse pain than expected when I get back if Kushina gets a recently used idea in her head?"

…

"So what are we doing, what are we doing?" an excited Akari asked her irritated teacher. "Come on Chicken-Butt Sensei, hurry up and teach me!"

"I'll teach you all right," Sasuke muttered under his breath, before he cleared his throat. "Alright, so tell me exactly what you already know on how to use your chakra. I am aware that you already know how to use it to walk on walls, because Naruto won't stop complaining about your creative method of waking him when he least expects it."

Akari giggled at the memories of her older brother's agonized expression after each time she landed on his crotch from the ceiling. "Other than that, I only know the exercise that sticks leaves to my body."

"Well then, let's head on over to the hot springs," Sasuke said with a devious grin. "I am going to teach you the water walking exercise."

…

"Father, it's great to see you!" an eighteen year old Yoshoryuu shouted as he tossed aside his bow and flung himself into Felix's arms. The young man's hair was as red as Kushina's and cut to his shoulders, and his eyes were the same color as his father's. The dragon tattoo on his hand was dark brown, and his clothing consisted of green pants and a blue shirt.

His younger by one year sister also flung herself at Felix, her long bright blue hair swaying. She had bright red eyes the same shade as her uncle's, and the tattoo on her hand was green. Her jeans were brown and she wore a yellow tank top. "I'm so happy you're here Dad!" she practically squealed.

"Come on, Mathew and Vanessa, it's only been thirteen years," Felix said teasingly, before releasing both of his children. "This is Naruto and Hinata by the way." **(A/N: Yes, I know that the first names are mostly English based when it comes to characters from the Elder Dimension, while the clan and/or surnames are Japanese, it's just a theme with the Elder Dimension)**

Mathew held his hand out to Naruto with a grin. "I hope Father was not too much of a handful for you?" he asked as Naruto took his hand and shook it, and Felix grumbled something about Naruto being the handful.

"No not really, he was a big help, and it's entertaining to watch him pummel Ero-Sennin." Naruto chuckled.

"Who's Ero-Sennin?" Vanessa asked with a giggle. "If he actually earned that nickname, it is no wonder Dad beats on him. The Yoshoryuu clan takes chivalry very seriously. A lot of clans treat the fairer sex at least a little differently, but this clan does not tolerate that kind of behavior. It's one of the main reasons the boys in it have so many fan girls. That is actually one of the main reasons our clan and the Chihanshu (Blood Lord) clan hate each other so much."

"The Chihanshu clan?" Hinata asked.

"A bunch of idiots who consider themselves above everyone else," Erika said, dislike evident on her face. "They have the power to endlessly produce their own blood as long as they have chakra, and control it like an extension of themselves. They think women were put on this earth to serve men, and women in their clan have seals on them that keep them from using chakra or their Kekkei Genkai, which they are deemed unworthy to use."

"They sound a lot like the Hyuuga clan back home," Hinata said with a hard expression on her face. "How does the Elder Dimension's Ruling Council let them get away with such atrocious enslavement?"

"Like you said, the same way the Hyuuga clan does," Felix said with disgust. "The Ruling Council has no business interfering with private clan matters. Believe me, I have tried to change that, I am on the council myself for obvious reasons. Honestly, it will be good riddance when that clan finally finishes dying out, I just hope I am still alive when that happens, and I know I am not the only one."

"The clan's dying out?" Naruto asked. "Why?"

"Do you honestly think women would marry into the clan?" Felix asked, and Naruto shook his head. "That limits them to the women born into the clan, and that leads to serious inbreeding. There is an increasing amount of members being born with defects that they would either be killed for at birth, or are born as sterile as a surgical tool. I can count with the fingers of one hand how many people they have who are perfectly healthy and can still reproduce."

"But you all aren't here to talk about a clan we almost have a feud with," Mathew said. "It's about time we started training you. How about I show you two to the rooms we had set aside for you, then you can come back down and we can get started."

"Sounds good," Naruto said.

After Mathew had gotten them settled, they went back down to the training grounds, and Vanessa drew her straight sword. "I will be training you in kenjutsu Naruto," she said. "The Yoshoryuu clan values two weapons above most others, the sword and the bow. I should warn you, I am an expert with the former."

"Bring it," Naruto replied as they both went to the center of one end of the grounds, the part reserved for kenjutsu training.

"Alright Hinata," Felix said as Mathew came with a measuring tape. "How do you feel about learning to use a bow? I feel it would be a very good weapon for you."

"Why?" Hinata asked as she raised her right arm for Mathew to measure. "The Hyuuga clan's style is close range combat."

"And as such, they are virtually helpless at long range combat," Mathew said as he continued his measurements. "You are a little less so, because you have a few water style jutsus, but even so, what you have is mainly meant for close to mid range. And frankly, the full potential of your Byakugan is wasted with only one close range fighting style."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked as Mathew finished with the measurements and rolled the tape up, having memorized the required lengths.

"Well, you do make good use of the ability to see the tenketsu and chakra pathways at close quarters, but one of the major abilities of the Byakugan is to see for longer distances than any other dojutsu I know of, often allowing you to spot enemies before they spot you. This would give you a chance for a preemptive strike before your foe even knew of your presence, but because your clan needs to get in close, that ability is for the most part wasted. So a bow would help you cover that weakness, and I have little doubt that your dojutsu will help you become a master markswoman in no time."

"Alright, I'll try it."

"Good, just let me get a practice bow that fits you. Just go over to the targeting range."

Hinata nodded and walked in the direction shown. When Mathew arrived with the practice bow and a quiver with blunt arrows, he pointed to the targets across the field. "Now watch carefully." He set down the practice gear and showed Hinata with his own actual bow how to draw and shoot properly. He easily hits the bulls eyes on each target about 200 feet down the range. A few of the trainees clapped at the display of marksmanship.

Hinata picked up her own practice bow and targeted the nearest target, about twenty feet away. She fire the blunt arrow, but it missed entirely, passing within an inch of the target.

"Not bad for a first try," Mathew said. "Often the first attempt goes so badly awry that it does not even leave the bowstring upon being released. Hinata nodded and placed another arrow on the string, and aimed again, this time readjusting her aim a bit to the right, but Mathew put his hand on her shoulder. "You should not develop the habit of needing one shot to figure out how to place another. You won't be able to get away with that in an actual combat situation. Move on to the next target."

Hinata saw the sense in that and did as she was told.

…..

Sasuke and Sakura could be seen heading towards the barbeque place chatting. "How is training Naruto's sister going?" she asked him, and he smiled evilly.

"Well, she is learning water walking at a fast pace, but her first few tries dumped her into scalding hot water," Sasuke replied. "That served as motivation for her to learn fast. She can already walk fairly well on it, but tomorrow, I will have her do so while also having to do the leaf sticking exercise, so she better bring clothes she does not mind getting wet, and be braced for the heat."

Sakura winced in sympathy for the six year old. "Taking revenge for the Chicken-Butt Sensei comments?"

"Oh not yet. The hot springs training is just motivation for her to learn quicker. Trust me, when I get payback, she will know exactly why she is being put through it."

They arrived at the barbeque place to have dinner together and saw Asuma, Ino and Choji there, Choji in the process of putting Asuma's wallet under a lot of torture. "What are you guys doing here?" Sasuke asked the chain smoker.

"Since Shikamaru is a chunin now, we are waiting for a new teammate so these two can take the exams when they next come, and he agreed to meet us here," Asuma said. "I heard he was a member of ROOT for a while, before that brother of yours made Danzo quit again."

"Hello," a pale boy said as he arrived, and Sasuke immediately recognized him, and recognized that smile of his as a fake one. "My name is Sai," the boy continued to Team 10.

"I am Asuma, and I will be your jonin instructor," Asuma said.

"Ino Yamanaka," Ino giggled as she noticed that Sai was not all that bad looking.

"Choji Akamichi," Choji said with a burp, not even looking up from his food.

"Hmm, in order to become close to others," Sai muttered as he blatantly read from a book. "It is a useful tool to give them a nickname, one that shows how you feel about them…" Everyone sweat dropped, and Asuma sighed as he muttered something about that being almost expected with the boy being from ROOT and all. Sai pocketed the book and displayed another of his fake smiles. "Well, I am sure it will be pleasant working with you, Ugly and Fatso."

There was a very eerie silence. "You might want to run now," Sasuke said as he face palmed, and Sai looked at him in confusion, before both Ino and Choji were on him like wrinkles on an elephant, and the three disappeared in a dust cloud. Sasuke, Sakura and Asuma sweat dropped.

"Let's just ignore that," Sasuke said and Sakura nodded as they took seats and Asuma tried to break up the beating.

About an hour later, Sasuke and Sakura left the stand. Team 10 had left earlier, on account of Asuma having to take a battered Sai to the nearest infirmary to make sure he was not given a concussion and Sai of course had no idea why he had been beaten up. "Looking back on that, it was amusing," Sakura chuckled. "It always cracks me up to see someone call it like it is when they see Ino-Pig."

"That's not very n-," Sasuke started before an Uchiha wearing a chunin vest Shunshinned in front of them.

"We have an urgent matter to attend to Sasuke-sama," the woman said, ignoring Sakura. "Mikoto-sama has called an emergency meeting of all clan members chunin or higher ranked."

"Lead the way," Sasuke said before turning to Sakura. "Will you be able to mak it home by yourself from here?"

"It's not that far Sasuke," Sakura replied.

Sasuke nodded and both he and his fellow clan member vanished in another Shunshin.

…

"So… stiff and sore," Naruto muttered in his room as flopped into the bed provided. Vanessa turned out to be a brutal kenjutsu instructor, especially when she found out about Naruto's healing factor, and decided to put it to "good use." As a result, the usually tireless blonde was downright exhausted and had gone to bed a little early once training had ended. There was a knock on the door, and Naruto groaned, "Come in."

Hinata entered the room, a little sore herself due to muscles she was not generally used to using being strained. One of the things Mathew had stressed while she had practiced was to use the muscles in the shoulders and upper back to draw the bow, not just the arms. "What's up, Hinata?" Naruto asked as he sat up.

"W-well, Naruto-kun, it's just," Hinata said a little nervously, her face going red. "This is an entirely new place we are in, and I do not feel quite… comfortable, alone in a new room, and can't seem to be able to sleep…"

"You'll get used to it," Naruto said. "Right now, I am just too tired to care about the lack of familiarity."

"Just for tonight though," Hinata asked as she blushed again. "Can I sleep with you?" When Naruto went red himself, she hastily continued, "I'm not saying I want to do THAT yet, I just want to spend our first night here in your arms…" **(A/N: Don't expect lemons in this story, I rated it T, and I intend to keep it that way)**

"Alright, come on." Naruto lifted one edge of the covers and she got in with him, and they both drifted off embracing each other.

….

"This is the situation," Mikoto said to the gathered clan members. "Just earlier this afternoon, I sent someone to check in on Hiroki, the man I entrusted with the duties of Chief of the Konoha Military Police Force. He had not shown up that morning to do his duties, nor had he given notification of why. The person found him and his wife Kyo dead, murdered by a bladed weapon."

"Any suspects on who did it?" Azami asked as Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Just circumstantial evidence," Mikoto replied. "One of our clan members, Norio, who had been imprisoned following the attempted coup six years ago for trying to kill the Yondaime's son during said coup, which failed because of Sasuke, escaped from his prison cell with seeming outside help last night as well. The reason he may be involved was because he was Kyo's brother, and it seems too much of a coincidence that that a man's sister was murdered on the same night as he escaped prison."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he shouted, "Where Kyo's eyes missing!?"

"They were, but why do you ask?" Mikoto asked as the clan members stared incredulously at Sasuke, who turned on his heel and left the building. "Wait, where are you going Sasuke?" Mikoto asked after her son.

Sasuke did not respond as he dashed towards the Hokage tower. He had to tell this to Itachi.

**A/N: Due to lack of popularity in my other story, I will put it on a temporary hiatus, at least until I can figure out whether I want to continue it or not. I also had another story idea, one where Mikoto and Fugaku adopt Naruto after Kurama is sealed inside of him. It is something I have checked, and I am a little appalled to say that it seems to not have been done that much before. It is such a good potential story, and I am not sure why Mikoto would not have adopted Naruto in canon, after all, she and Kushina were friends. So I wanted to ask if anyone wanted me to do that story in addition to this one. The Massacre would still happen, but Naruto and Sasuke would be much closer than they had been before, so Sasuke would have a better shot at a good life.**

**So I have pretty much figured out who I am going to make the Paths and what powers they will get, after getting some advice from one of my favorite readers, NightAngel0Ex. They are as follows:**

**Deva Path: Sasuke. This is one of the greater powers afforded by the Rinnegan, and will help Sasuke keep foes at a distance and make them easier to hit with his Susanoo arrows and the Rasenlance, not to mention Amaterasu. Not only that, but one of the few weaknesses of Deva Path is genjutsu, and Sasuke will pretty much eliminate that downfall.**

**Animal Path: Hinata. The reasons behind this are to help her control the range of combat by either having the summoned animals cover her while she gets in close, or keep foes at bay while she uses that bow she will be learning to use. Naruto will also want to make sure she is capable of summoning other Paths in order to ensure that she can have protection from enemies, and she will also be able to summon Naruto to a fight, or he can always summon her away from one.**

**Preta Path: Lee. The guy is a serious threat with his taijutsu ability, but he is at a disadvantage against those who use ninjutsu. With the ability to absorb chakra, the disadvantage is negated, and he will be able to replenish his stores fairly well, allowing him to recover from the exhaustion aspect of using the first few Celestial Gates, though he would still have to deal with torn muscles.**

**Naraka Path: Sakura. This is the Path that allows the user to summon the King of Hell to heal others or interrogate. Because it is the Naraka Path's duty to survive the battles in order to keep healing the other Paths, it is important for the Naraka to be able to avoid battles and defend themselves. Because Sakura had already had these skills because of her duties as a medic, and because this time she also has defensive Earth Style abilities and misleading genjutsus, she is the best choice.**

**Asura Path: Tenten. Need you even ask why she gets that Path? Asura is the Path that lets the user make weapons out of their bodies, and we know Tenten would kill for that ability.**

**Human Path: Shikamaru. The advantage of this Path is the one that allows one to rip the souls from another's body after reading their minds, but the catch is that you have to catch them first, so you can put your hand on their heads. Who better than Shikamaru, he's got his shadow jutsus and a mind to corner most foes.**

**So if anyone has what they feel are better ideas, they can tell me in reviews, and I will pm either counter arguments or agreements, depending on what is applicable.**

**Also, has no one decided to do any fan art for my characters? I thought that at least one of my readers might have put something on deviantart or something, but I suppose that my characters aren't good enough for that. I can still hope though.**

**Naruto will be introduced next chapter to a new fuinjutsu trainer, one who was mentioned by Felix before, though not by name.**

**Please Review! **


	37. Chapter 36: A Crazy Triclops

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: So this chapter, Sasuke and Itachi will attempt to investigate the most likely suspect for the one responsible for the murders, and we will have some comic relief in the form of a somewhat eccentric character who will be teaching Naruto fuinjutsu, as well as some taijutsu to both him and Hinata.**

**Chapter 36: A Crazy Triclops**

"This is very troubling," Itachi said. Sasuke stood in front of him, seething about last night's news. "What I am most concerned about is the fact that Norio and Kyo were related. If Norio killed her husband first, and then killed her for her eyes, he would have likely awakened both of their Mangekyo Sharingans, and he would now have the potential for the Eternal Mangekyo. The question, how would he even know how to get Mangekyo, let alone Eternal Mangekyo? The very existence of both levels of the Sharingan are tight secrets."

"I suspect it was that "outside help" breaking out of prison he had," Sasuke said. "He likely has a grudge against Naruto for having him thrown in the first place after the mauling he got. It was probably easy for someone who did know about the Eternal Mangekyo to persuade him to acquire it to get the power for revenge. Naruto should have killed the guy when he had the chance."

"Would he be Naruto if he did?" Itachi asked, and when Sasuke did not answer he continued, "At any rate, we need to find Norio. I will list him as an S rank criminal. Under normal circumstances, he would only be B, maybe A rank, but if he has the final stage of the Sharingan… and we also need to find out who orchestrated this."

"Well let's see," Sasuke said, pretending to think. "Who do we know who is unscrupulous about getting power, has knowledge of the Sharingan, to what extent, I don't know, but he probably does now about Eternal Mangekyo, and would have the needed information to figure out who would be his best shot at getting it, as well as the knowledge on how to get him out of prison?"

…..

The next morning in the Elder Dimension, Naruto was awoken by a sudden burst of pain in his eyes. "AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!" he shouted as he shot up, clutching his face, scaring Hinata as she woke up as well. As soon as the pain came, it was gone, and Naruto panted in a cold sweat.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" Hinata asked concerned. Naruto did not answer as he quickly checked his eyes in the mirror. Nothing out of the ordinary, not even red veins showing.

_"Hey Kurama, did you do that?" _Naruto asked his partner.

**"Don't look at me Kit, I was asleep myself when your screaming like a little girl woke me up. As best as I can tell, it's as if your body just sent a sudden burst of chakra into your eyes, over stimulating the nerves, hence the momentary pain. There does not seem to be anything wrong now, but I will be on alert for repeated incidents."**

_"Kami, I sure hope that that was not a first time in a chain of incidents like that_, _it hurt like hell, even if for only an instant," _Naruto mentally prayed before turning to Hinata and saying, "Sorry Hinata, it was nothing. My eyes just hurt all of a sudden, that's all. Kurama says that nothing came of it."

"I see," Hinata said, though the concern did not leave her eyes. "You should have them checked out though, if they're paining you."

"If Kurama can't find anything wrong, a check-up in a hospital would do me no-," Naruto did not finish as the door burst open, and Vanessa ran in with her blade unsheathed. Clearly, she had heard the ruckus and thought they were being attacked, but upon seeing there was no trouble, she sheathed her weapon and her eyes went back from yellow with slits to their usual red.

"What the devil was that screaming about?" Vanessa demanded and Mathew entered through the window, his own Sage Mode ended, and returning an arrow to his quiver. He had apparently been covering Vanessa from outside the window.

Naruto quickly explained about his eyes, and both of the Yoshoryuus frowned. "Well, my advice is to get them checked and stay alert for any other times this occurs," Mathew said.

"Got it," Naruto sighed, knowing that he would not be left alone until he did get them checked. "Where's Felix anyway? I would have thought he would be leading the charge when I woke the dead up."

"He and Mom went out this morning to catch up," Vanessa said. "Lucky for you too, I do not think Mom would have taken kindly to you two sleeping together already," she gave a hard look at both Naruto and Hinata, both of whom quickly protested that no clothing had come off, both of their faces creating entirely new shades of red. "And before you ask about Uncle Kyle, he is in town looking for your fuinjutsu mentor Naruto, who will also be teaching you both some taijutsu. Because of the Tamashi Kensaku Me, he excels at both."

"Really?" Naruto asked. "We get to have someone like Ceilia teaching us?"

"Yes and no," Vanessa sighed. "Isaac is not exactly normal. He kinda lost a good part of his mind when he underwent the transplantation process."

"You mean the guy who plants chickens to grow eggs?" Naruto asked with a sweat drop, causing Hinata to sweat drop as well.

"I see Felix mentioned him to you before, and yes, that is one of his stranger quirks," Vanessa said. "He also does not understand expressions, he believes the most obvious lies, he gives people the most insulting nicknames and uses them regardless of consequences, and says random thoughts that come to his mind. The weirdest behavior he has yet is a mortal terror of critters like squirrels."

"Why would he be afraid of squirrels?"

"Because he took Ceilia literally when she made the mistake of calling him nuts," Vanessa deadpanned, and Naruto and Hinata face faulted.

"That has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard," Naruto said as he got back up. Hinata nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry too much," Mathew said. "Although Isaac may seem a few arrows short of a quiver, he is still a very reliable fighter, and is a good teacher as well. And though he is indisputably crazy, he has yet to prove himself a danger to himself or others, at least in an illegal sense."

"So he should have no problems training us right?" Naruto said.

"Unless you have problems training with someone certifiably insane, you should get stronger training with him," Vanessa said, and Naruto snorted.

"Please, I spent two and a half years with Ero-Sennin, and I also trained with a Cyclops that would be late to his own funeral," Naruto said. "How bad can Isaac be?"

"Don't dig your own grave," Vanessa advised.

…..

"Hot, hot, HOT!" Akari shouted as she lost focus again and took a spill in the hot springs. Sasuke meanwhile just sat against the fence looking bored as he read a book about water style jutsus. "You are enjoying this, aren't you Chicken-Butt Sensei?" she asked as she pulled herself up and got some fresh leaves before her next attempt. She could already water walk easily enough… if that was all she focused on. Trying to walk on water and using her chakra to stick leaves to her body at the same time was a real chore.

"Yes, maybe because you just refuse to stop calling me that nickname," Sasuke said as he turned a page. "You are just as bad as that Sai, only you are actually aware of the fact that your nicknames annoy people. At any rate, we will be here for two more hours before I take you to meet some tutors in taijutsu, so get back to work. If your control and reserves get good enough, I will teach you a jutsu that will speed up your training."

"Yes sir!" Akari said as she ran back onto the water… SPLOOSH! "ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!"

Normally Sasuke would have chuckled at this, but he currently had a lot on his mind. Itachi was already having ANBU investigate Danzo, but so far they had found nothing to implicate the grizzled war hawk. Sasuke nearly tore the book apart as he internally seethed about it. Even in this timeline, Danzo was tainting his clan's name as though it actually needed it. And he knew for a fact that the geezer had eleven Sharingan this time around as well, having gotten them from Orochimaru again, who must have stolen them from the Uchiha who had fallen the same night as his father, though he had less to take this time, which was quite fortunate. Of course, Shishui had died again, and this time, Itachi did not know what happened to his friend's left eye. He had been hoping it would be found in one of Orochimaru's main hideouts, but at this point, they could only conclude it was in the possession of Obito.

What was also troubling was that Itachi was not so certain that Danzo had the right eye this time, though they knew he did have a Sharingan there. The reason Itachi was not so certain of Danzo having one of his friend's eyes was because while Danzo did have a lot of sway with the civilian council, he did not seem to have quite as much as last time, not even with Koharu and Homura, though they did still tend to agree with him.

Sauke continued to muse like this for the next two hours before it was time to go to the training grounds were Lee and Gai were doing their insanity workouts. When they arrived, the two spandex freaks were in the midst of their morning stretches.

"Good, you're on time for the beginning of our training!" Gai said as he gave one of his trademark grins, and Akari was staring at both taijutsu specialists, astounded at their choice of clothing and at how identical the two were, not to mention the nightmare inducing eyebrows. "I hope you are ready for a most youthful workout, for we will start with 500 push-ups, 500 sit-ups, then we will run 50 laps around the village wearing these!" Gai declared as he held up two leg weights and dropped them.

Akari paled as she saw the size of the craters the weights made. "Please help me…" she pleaded Sasuke in an undertone, and his face took on a very scary grin.

"Now why would I help you, when I am the one who put you in this situation in the first place?" he asked rhetorically. "Have fun with those two."

"Yosh!" Lee shouted in enthusiasm as Sasuke left Akari to those two. "We will make certain Akari-san's flames of youth burn bright today, and if I can't do that, I will run 30 laps around the village on my hands wearing twice the amount of my weights!"

"And if you cannot achieve that," Gai said in response. "I will do 5,000 push-ups with those weights and Akari on my back!" Akari paled at the thought of being stuck on Gai's back long enough for him to achieve that. These two were going to kill her.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Akari looked eagerly at the display. Sasuke had told her that if they started to do this, she should pay close attention to see an awesome jutsu. It was far too late for her when she realized he had tricked her, and she got caught in the unbreakable sunset genjutsu, and none of the lessons on breaking genjutsu he had given her did squat to the horror.

Sasuke was meanwhile chuckling as his mood brightened. He was imagining the horrors the two spandex wearers would subject her too. "That'll teach her to call me that annoying nickname, aw, sweet revenge." And with that, he headed to the Hokage tower to see if Itachi had found anything yet.

….

"Use your back muscles more," Mathew instructed to Hinata as she drew the bow again. "It will help you increase your draw weight and reduce fatigue."

"Got it," she said and after complying, she fired the arrow. This time, it thudded into the target, though well outside the circle that was supposed to be targeted.

"At least you are managing to get it off in the general direction of your target," Mathew stated. "And you have done it in a shorter time frame than most of my usual students."

"Usual students?" Hinata asked, taking another practice arrow and aiming it at the next target.

"Yes, my father was impressed to learn that I had become the clan's best archer during his absence. Because of my ability, it's my job to teach all the younger members of the clan who aspire to it how to shoot straight and not take out their own eyes. Unfortunately, I actually have trained few other students, most of the clan favors the sword, mostly because they hope to be chosen at some point by Elemental Infinity. Uncle Kyle teaches that for the most part, though Vanessa is close to getting better than him in that respect. Of course, it is unlikely she will get better than Father, he is recognized as one of the best the clan has ever had."

"Hey Mathew, care to give me any tips for this exercise?" Naruto asked as he walked up with a blade of grass in his hand. He was currently trying to learn how to use the fire element to best compliment wind and earth, and was trying to get the grass blade to burn. So far, he had not even made it smoke. "Vanessa has been teaching me, but I thought I would ask someone who has it as their main affinity."

"Sure thing," Mathew said. "In fact, why doesn't Hinata take some water style lessons from Vanessa, while I try to get Naruto to get that grass burned, at least until Isaac gets here." Hinata set down her practice bow and moved over to Vanessa, and Mathew turned to Naruto. "So why aren't you using Shadow Clones for that training?"

Naruto smacked his forehead. "Knew I was forgetting something," he muttered before making about 200 clones, who all picked a blade of grass for the training.

It was about an hour later when Kyle strolled onto the training grounds, accompanied by a man wearing a grey kimono and a red headband. His short hair was black and his rather faraway eyes were blue. Naruto figured that this was Isaac. His suspicions were confirmed when Vanessa asked him, "Hey Isaac, what's up?"

Isaac looked at her like her question was crazy before he sighed and said, "I don't know, let me check." He turned his gaze skyward, and Naruto sniggered as the guy said in absolute seriousness, "Let's see, there's the blue sky, a few clouds that makes it seem as though it's going to rain just a little, and a few birds. Why did you ask?"

"No reason," Vanessa sighed, having forgotten how literally Isaac took things. "Anyway, this is Naruto and Hinata, the students we asked you to train."

"Now why do you have the name Naruto, you don't look the slightest bit like you are edible to me," Isaac said, and Naruto sweat dropped at the reference to his name being the same as a type of noodle. "Let's see, I think I will just call you Midget."

"I am not a midget!" Naruto shouted indignantly as he was held back by Mathew.

Isaac laughed, and said, "Alright, so you are a midget with a temper too, so Grouchy Midget it is. Since it is clear that you are raring to go, why don't both you and Hinata come at me and we will start your taijutsu lesson for the day."

"Bring it!" Naruto shouted as he was released and Hinata sighed a little before moving to back him up.

A brief taijutsu battle ensued, and Isaac was clearly the most experienced when it came to hand to hand combat. Since the Tamashi Kensaku Me drained chakra from the user very fast, it was important for said user to know how to fight in ways that save chakra. That said, Naruto and particularly Hinata were no slouches either, and eventually, Isaac was beaten by both of them.

"Man, it's a good thing I'm slightly masochistic," Isaac said as he got up, applying chakra to a few places where Hinata had shut his tenketsu. "Because I am covered in bruises after that. And a barrel of monkeys is a fun thing to have."

"What does that last part have to do with anything?" Hinata asked.

"I have no idea." Naruto and Hinata face faulted, and Isaac continued, "So, while your styles are not my own, I can help you find a few areas to improve on. For example, Hinata has some very precise strikes, but she could use a little more force behind her blows. Grouchy Midget on the other hand-,"

"Don't call me that, you crazy triclops!" Naruto shouted in anger.

"Could use a little more precision in his style, if you can call it that, it's more of a brute force kind of thing, though he is efficient with it," Isaac said. "And thank you by the way," he said to Naruto in response to the crazy triclops comment.

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"I am aware, but it shows that I have a better temper to thank someone for a nickname, rather than yell about it like the grouch you are."

Mathew and Vanessa had to jump in to keep Naruto from strangling Isaac with his chakra chains at this point.

….

"May I ask why I have been called here again so soon?" Danzo asked Itachi later that night as he entered the office. Sasuke stood next to his brother, exerting all of his self-control to keep himself from ripping Danzo apart then and there. Karin was also in the room, so she could make sure that Danzo would either be honest or caught in a lie, with her ability to sense chakra and tell a lie from the truth. Sasuke had come up with the idea to expose Danzo, though he was reluctant to put Karin in the crossfire. He would just have to be ready to act and make sure Danzxo did not take her hostage again.

"You may already be aware," Itachi began. "That two members of my clan have been murdered the night before last, and that the sibling of one of them has been broken out of prison. What I want to know is whether you know anything about this."

"Are you accusing me of both incidents?" Danzo asked, not showing any rage.

"Not yet," Itachi said. "However, you do have knowledge of a lot of things that would give you the opportunities to orchestrate this incident, and it is no secret that you view the clan as a threat to Konoha. This makes you suspect. However, we have no proof as of yet, so I will ask you in the presence of Karin Uzumaki, who you already know can detect lies, if you are responsible in any way, or know something about this incident. Just answer yes or no."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan to make sure Danzo would not use his right eye to manipulate anyone, just in case it was Shisui's eye he had. Danzo looked straight at Itachi and said. "No. I know nothing about the incidents beyond what you told me."

"Karin?" Sasuke asked the red head.

"He's not lying," Karin said, and shock was briefly evident on Sasuke's face.

"Very well," Itachi said. "You are dismissed Danzo and Karin. Once both of them left, Itachi sighed. "That is a relief and a troubling thing to hear at once. At least I know Danzo has not had the nerve to do anything drastic yet."

"And now we are back were we started," Sasuke said. "If Danzo is not the one who arranged this incident, then who is?"

**A/N: Whew, I am still managing to update on a fast basis, though that means shorter chapters. I know most of you thought that Danzo was the culprit for this incident with the Uchiha clan, and I wrote him in as a suspect, but he was not the one responsible.**

**I hope Isaac is mildly amusing, I have never tried to write about a character that has a few eccentricities.**

**There will be a bit of a time skip after next chapter, which will cover more training for Akari, Naruto and Hinata. **

**So read, and REVIEW!**


	38. Chapter 37: A Repeating Incident

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I will be closing the popularity poll on the Elder Dimension characters after this chapter, so vote while you can! So far, Felix is obviously first place, with Ceilia in second, and Drakmus in third.**

**Chapter 37: A Repeating Incident**

"Come on, come on…" Naruto said as the Rasenshuriken formed slowly, without a Shadow Clone to aid him. He felt that it was one of his greatest weaknesses to fix, the fact that he needed a Shadow Clone to form an Elemental Rasengan. He had already learned how to do a regular Rasengan with one hand, but he felt he should at least be able to do a Rasengan with at least one element the same way. He and almost 200 Shadow Clones were currently working on that, while another 200 were practicing their fire style chakra on the blade of grass. They had made a bit of progress since they had started yesterday, the blades were already starting to smoke at the edges. 200 more were working with Vanessa, drilling with a few advanced kenjutsu abilities.

He could see Hinata training with ten Shadow Clones on the bow, and the arrows they were firing were slowly but surely approaching the bull's eyes on each target they all practiced on

There was a big explosion as the Rasenshuriken in the original Naruto's hand went off, and he was thrown back by the blast. "Take a break Naruto," Felix said. "You've been working nonstop on this all morning. Vanessa just finished making lunch anyways, so it would be a good idea for you to take a meal break. You too Hinata."

Both agreed on this and dispelled all of their Shadow clones and followed Felix into the dining room in the wing reserved for the clan head's immediate family. "Ramen!" Naruto shouted and Vanessa shook her head with a smile. She knew from her father that Naruto was a ramen freak and would pester her unless she made it on a regular basis unless she made it on a regular basis. Naruto slurped it up with enthusiasm, and said between bites, "This is actually pretty good stuff, did your Mom teach you?"

Felix started to cough a little for some reason as Erika beamed before Mathew said, "Actually, it is because of Mom that Vanessa learned after Dad left, because it was either that or starve." At this point, Felix started laughing his ass off, and got a glare from Erika that silenced him rather fast.

"Come on Mathew, I'm not that bad of a cook," she protested, and Felix, Vanessa and Kyle just burst out in laughing.

"Please," Mathew deadpanned. "Last time we let you cook for us, there were still feathers in the roast chicken." A few noodles were spewed as Naruto joined in the mirth and Hinata giggled and Erika face palmed.

"Okay fine, so I can't cook my way out of a paper bag, happy? But I can still use a frying pan to good effect, so watch your attitudes!" she demanded and everyone quickly sobered and covered their heads defensively. "Good, glad we have an understanding!"

"Naruto, may I have a word with you later?" Felix asked as everyone else helped themselves to the ramen.

"Yes, of course," Naruto responded.

…

"That was the cruelest thing you have ever done Chicken-Butt Sensei!" Akari shouted as she pointed her finger at Sasuke. "I am never going to stop having nightmares about that horrible genjutsu I couldn't break!"

"That's what happens when you aren't careful who you insult," Sasuke said, having a lot of trouble hiding a smirk. "I hope you learned your lesson?"

"Yes, never listen to another word you say, Chicken-Butt Sensei," Akari said, and Sasuke sighed.

"Alright, let's move on to another stage of your training. I'll help speed things up with a jutsu I have been learning from Itachi recently. Look into my eyes."

Akari complied and Sasuke's eyes took on their Eternal Mangekyo state. "Tsukuyomi," Sasuke said.

"What the-," Akari said as she suddenly found herself in the illusion world and a bunch of snakes and hawks appeared and joined together to form Sasuke.

"This is the greatest of genjutsus afforded by Itachi's and my Sharingan," Sasuke stated. "It is an illusion world where the castor controls reality itself in here. Of course, I am not nearly as good at it as Itachi is. He had to teach me how to use it, and it had come so naturally to him. Of course, I specialize in other aspects of it that he does not, but for now, I can only maintain the Tsukoyomi for a few hours, and I will be lucky to ever be able to get to a level where I can hold it for a day."

"A few hours? What would happen to our actual bodies during that time?"

"Nothing. No time passes outside of the Tsukuyomi as long as it is maintained. In battle, it is used to break the minds of enemies with seemingly endless torture. It is also dangerous because all that is needed for it to activate is eye contact, no hand signs, and there are very few ways to break it. Itachi is capable of using the perspective of the time passing to put a weeks worth of time into this world while no time passes outside. Of course, I will be using it to train and educate you. Hopefully, one year from now, I will be able to take you down to the academy and have you take the genin test and you should pass."

"How? It takes years to get to that level, and if you can only do this for a few hours maybe a day-,"

"Actually, it's only a few hours per time I cast it so far, the time should increase as I practice, and I should be able to use it at least a few times a day, though that will drain my chakra a bit. That would give you an extra ten hours give or take a day to train, though in here, it won't help the physical condition of your body. So you will still have to train that. What I can teach you is how to use a few jutsus, one of which will also help you train faster, the Shadow Clone Jutsu. So we start with that."

A few hours later, or not a second later depending on what perspective you have been watching from, Akari and Sasuke returned to themselves, the latter panting slightly. "It does not look like that will be a practical jutsu for me to use in combat," Sasuke said. "At any rate, let's see if you can take jutsus you learn from Tsukuyomi's reality into the real world. You were able to form five Shadow Clones inside the genjutsu, so let's see if you can do it here."

Akari nodded and formed the familiar cross seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five clones came into being.

"Perfect, it works," Sasuke said. Most people would be surprised that someone so young would be able to form five clones, but thanks to Akari being an Uzumaki, though she had a different surname, the fact that her mother still had traces of Kurama's chakra in her and passed a little onto Akari, and her early chakra control training all led up to her having high reserves, about as much as a mid-level chunin. Not nearly as much as Naruto, but it was hardly fair to compare one's reserves to his.

"Now then," Sasuke continued and he held up a slip of paper before handing it to Akari. "I don't plan on teaching you elemental jutsus yet, but it will be good to know what your affinity is beforehand as we learn how you will best fight, so I can form some training ideas. All you need to do is channel some chakra into the paper and that will tell us what type you are."

Akari nodded and took the paper from Sasuke and listened to his explanation on what the paper should do for each element. She focused her chakra for a moment, and Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. Instead of crumpling, crumbling, splitting, burning, or getting wet, leaves and a few small branches sprouted from the paper.

"What is this?" Akari asked. "You did not mention this effect at all, Chicken-Butt Sensei."

"I wasn't expecting it," Sasuke replied, ignoring the insult this time. If that was what he thought it was, then Akari had a wood style nature, meaning she had a Kekkei Genkai. Sasuke realized that it must have something to do with the distant Uzumaki relations with the Senju clan, but he never expected that particular ability to surface in Akari.

…..

Next day, in the Elder Dimension, there was a break in the air in front of a building titled Archivist's Domain. Felix and Naruto stepped through the rift. "What are we doing here Felix?" Naruto asked as Isaac came out after them. They were currently in the center city of the Elder Dimension's civilization. Felix had explained the Elder Dimension's geography was basically a giant continent with the largest city in the center, and clan compounds set on the edges, and a few small towns and cities in the massive distance between them. Travel from one place to another was mainly done through the use of the Dimension Door Jutsu, which was actually a requirement for most clan heads to know, since the majority of meetings of the Ruling Council in done in this city, and often they are called on short notice.

"A few things actually," Felix responded. "First of all, there is a limit to the seals, taijutsu forms and jutsus we will be allowed to teach you from this dimension, unless a few other dimensions have already mastered similar abilities. Since this is the largest library we have in this dimension, it is the likeliest place to check for things you are eligible to learn. Not only that, but I am sure you are interested in the history of my home, at least a little bit, and since we clearly have enemies competing for something in your home realm, it may be a good idea for you to research what you can on the clans of this place, since you may well go up against members from each clan.

"Finally, there is something else I want to check. I know I heard the name Raizen, the name we managed to pull from the mind of the man who tried to take Hinata, before, and if there is one place I can find out where, it would be here."

"Okay, I get it, so what's HE doing here?" Naruto asked as he pointed at Isaac, who was busy plucking the petals off of a flower he had picked, but rather than saying something like "she love me, she loves me not," at each petal, he was saying random things with each petal, like "I want my sushi well done, I don't believe in reincarnation, but I did in my past life, that lady should tell her plastic medic to visit the eye medic," and a few other things that would force me to change the rating of this story if I wrote it in this chapter.

Felix sweat dropped as the woman Isaac had mentioned kicked said idiot in the crotch, shouting that her bust happened to be real. "Since he is one of your mentors, he will be helping us to find a few things for you to learn, though I brought him against my better judgment."

"Shit, a chipmunk!" Isaac shouted once the agony in his nether regions had subsided and he dived into the nearest bush, muttering, "Don't let him eat me please…"

Naruto face faulted. "How can one person calling him nuts have that much of a psychological effect on someone, crazy or not?" he demanded.

"A number of factors," Felix replied. "For one thing, he has a great deal of respect for Ceilia as she is one of the best in their particular field, and she had called him nuts when he had just gotten out of the operation, so was at his looniest and most delicate phase."

"THIS isn't his looniest?" Naruto deadpanned.

"No, he had to have a lot of therapy to get him back to this level of relative sanity, but the effect of Ceilia's comment when he was at his looniest left a serious impression in his sub consciousness, thus resulting in that odd phobia of his. It's so deeply ingrained on his psyche, that he always reacts to his fear, even if what's left of his rational mind knows it's stupid. Kind of like a person who fears enclosed spaces, even if he isn't trapped in them. The chipmunk's gone Isaac."

"Oh thank Kami," the lunatic triclops said as he got out of the bush, and Naruot and Felix did their best to ignore him from then on as they ascended the steps into the building. A few hours later, they came back out, having found a few things of interest to borrow and study, but Felix had had little luck finding anything on Raizen. He had checked all the rosters of known rogue knights, and even a few that were recently supposedly deceased, but he found nothing there. Changing tactics, he tried finding the name in a few other places, such as famous scientists, or philosophers of the past few decades, but still nothing. As Felix created another rift to get back to the clan compound, he mentally scowled. He KNEW the name was familiar, why couldn't he find anything in areas he knew he had studied before? He would just have to keep trying.

….

"Hokage-sama, I have news," an ANBU appeared before Itachi's desk. It was about a week since the incident with the Uchihas had occurred. The Uchiha looked up from his nearly finished paperwork. "We have found Norio Uchiha."

"Very good. I will assemble a team to subdue and bring him in. Where is he hiding?" Itachi asked.

"That won't be necessary Hokage-sama," the ANBU replied and Itachi frowned. "We found his body in a river. The wound that killed him was what appears to have been a brutal blow through his chest. Hi eyes were missing as well."

Itachi cursed. If his and Sasuke's fears were true, then the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was almost certainly in the wrong hands now. "Send search parties out to search the area his body had been found in, and make sure to search upwards the fiver he was found in," Itachi said, though he mentally felt that such an endeavor would be futile.

"Hai, Hokage-Sama!" the ANBU said before he disappeared in a Shunshin.

Itachi sighed. "I am beginning to fear for this new chance we have been given. The Eternal Mangekyo is too powerful to ignore. At least Sasuke and I have it as well," he murmured as his eyes took on his Eternal Mangekyo shape. His was the same as Sasuke's except his three pronged shuriken had retained its curved shape, and the six point stars he had gotten from Sasuke's eyes had taken on those curves.

…..

"Good progress on your taijutsu," Sasuke said to Akari as he helped her up.

"Thanks Chicken-Butt Sensei, she said as she dusted herself off and Sasuke face palmed.

"Just so you know, we are still in the Tsukuyomi for about another hour," he said.

"So? What will we be training in that hour?"

"We won't if you refuse to stop calling me Chicken-Butt Sensei. Instead, I will use it to force you to see that genjutsu again for the remainder of the time in here."

Akari went very pale and she quickly shouted, "No, please, anything but that!"

"Alright then, next time you call me that, I will make good on my threat, make no mistake. So here's what I want you to do now." He took out a few sticks and instructed Akari to make a clone for each one, and he handed a stick to her and the clones. "I looked up how to practice wood style, and the goal of this exercise is to try to get the sticks to grow a few leaves with your chakra. Once you do that, I will ask Itachi for you to get some lessons from a particular member of his ANBU."

Akari nodded and she started to try routing her chakra into the sticks, but she had no success for the remaining hour and the genjustu world faded. "You suck, Chicken-Butt Sensei!" she declared as she tossed the stick down, and Sasuke developed a tick mark.

"Look brat, this training takes a lot of time, even with Shadow Clones to aid you, unless you have as many as that brother of yours can make. And I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Aright, sorry, force of habit," Akari said. "Please don't make me view that horror again, I swear never to call you that again."

"I'll tell you what, if you are serious about that promise, then I will also promise to never cast the Tsukuyomi on you to torment you like that for any other reason. Deal?"

"Deal," Akari said as she extended her hand and they shook on it.

"Good, now remember, I absolutely do not expect you to get it right away with the training to use your wood style chakra, so don't feel too rushed. You already are starting earlier than most on this training after all, and we are speeding things up already with the double whammy of my genjutsu and the Shadow Clones."

"You're right, thanks," Akari said before she got a rather devious grin on her face, one that Sasuke did not like. "Duck-Butt Sensei…"

Sasuke slumped, moved over to a tree and started to bang his head against it with a passion.

…...

"Okay then, so the point of this seal," Isaac was telling Naruto, who was paying close attention. "Is to seal an explosive amount of chakra, not into tags that you can attach to weapons like you are used to, but into the weapons themselves. And it is much more efficient than the seals you used for those, so it will make an even more explosive bang. Boom Baby!" Isaac laughed. "Oh, and speaking of boom babies, when are you and that foxy lady of yours gonna-,"

"Do not finish that sentence if you know what is good for you," Naruto said to his mentor in irritation.

"Oh, and just what are you gonna do, I'm bigger than you, you Grouchy Midget," Isaac taunted. Big mistake.

Naruto got a very evil smirk and said, "How about… this!" He made over a hundred clones that surrounded Isaac, who yawned and prepared to engage them. However, instead of charging, the clones all formed seals and shouted, "Transformation Jutsu!" There was an explosion of smoke, and when it cleared, Isaac's face went paler than milk.

"Oh Kami no…"

….

Vanessa was in the midst of chopping some vegetables, and Mathew was washing a few before she moved on to those, when they heard a blood curling scream. They hastily grabbed their weapons, and Vanessa left the kitchen first, so Mathew could take a minute to go into Sage Mode, and she came out onto the training grounds to a bizarre sight. There were about a hundred squirrels all around the form of Isaac, who had clearly fainted and was foaming at the mouth. All of the squirrels then turned into clones of Naruto, who were all laughing.

"Serves ya right, you stupid triclops," the original said as his clones dispelled. "That's what you get for making an innuendo on Hinata's and my sex life."

"Sounds like he had that coming," Vanessa laughed, and Mathew came out of the compound.

"What happened?" he asked, and Naruto explained, and Mathew burst out laughing. "That's genius," he said. "I've lost count of the times I wanted to do something mean to Isaac because he was being stupid, and that is the best stunt I ever heard of." He was still chortling when Naruto suddenly clutched his eyes in pain.

"Gah, not again!" he shouted as the pain receded. Mathew and Vanessa looked concerned.

"Is it the same as that morning a week ago?" Vanessa asked, and Naruto nodded. "Come on, we'll take you to the infirmary, Mom and Dad are our clan's best medics, they should be training Hinata in that field right now."

Naruto nodded and followed them to the room in the compound. They entered to find Hinata trying to revive a fish with medical ninjutsu, using her Byakugan to aid the process. "What's going on?" Felix asked and Naruto explained that there was something up with his eyes, and Felix began some medical ninjutsu on the blonde's face to try to find the problem. He frowned as he said, "There does not seem to be any damage to the eyes at all, or anything else out of the ordinary. Except for one thing. The chakra coils in the eyes are marginally larger than they were before, but as to why this is happening, I have no idea."

"Looks like we are just going to have to keep an eye on this problem," Erika mused as she checked for herself. "Did anything like this occur last time you went through this time period?"

"No," Naruto said.

"Well then, it seems that we will just have to wait and see what comes of this, because I do not see anything else to do about it," Felix said.

….

In the dimly lit corridors of an Akatsuki hideout, Drakmus walked down to the private chambers of his master. He entered the room to find Raizen laying on the bed without his armor, though the shadows still hid most of his face, though bandages wrapped around his eyes were still evident. "How are you feeling my lord?" Drakmus asked Raizen, who sat up.

"These new eyes that you procured for me ache a little, though that is to be expected," Raizen said. "Store these old ones into a safe place for me until the time comes to use them again." He waved one of his hands and a glass container with two Sharingan eyes in a preservative shot at Drakmus from a small table in the room, and Drakmus caught it before he left.

Raizen laid back down and felt the wrappings on his face and smiled. "I can't wait to take the wrappings off and see what these new eyes can do. With any luck, the powers will compliment my Gravity Manipulation nicely."

**A/N: Glad I got a chapter a day out for the past few days, but don't get too used to it. I MIGHT be able to do one more tomorrow, but that's a big maybe, and I know for fact that I won't be able to post one on the Fourth of July, the library closes that day.**

** So I already have a few ideas for Raizen's new eyes, but I am still a little open to suggestions. I will not be giving him the Susanoo, because with that very dense armor of his, and his Gravity Manipulation, he already has a very strong defense, as well as a personal jutsu that further boosts his defense to levels that put the Susanoo and Gaara's sand to shame. You will just have to wait and see what that one is, but I can say it takes full advantage of one of the powers he can use because of his Gravity Manipulation. I encourage guesses, and I will pm those who have correct guesses. So any Mangekyo ability ideas you may have, I am open to.**

**So who thinks Sasuke using the Tsukuyomi to train Akari faster was a good idea? That and Shadow Clone combined will have her made into a formidable shinobi by the time Naruto returns, despite her young age. Not to mention her Wood Style abilities, bet no one was expecting me to give her that.**

**Those of you who are wondering what the flashes of pain in Naruto's eyes are, it is his body currently trying to assimilate the Rinnegan into it. Because he does not have a dojutsu like the Sharingan, his eyes have to adapt a greater amount in order to awaken the dojutsu by forcefully increasing the size of his chakra coils there. It will not completely awaken until his next showdown with Drakmus. **

**I hope you all look forward to the chapters where his and Hinata's training near their ends, and Akari will take the chunin exams after a two year time skip between this chapter and the next one.**

**Please, please, please, please, PLEASE REVIEW!**


	39. Chapter 38: Two Years Progress

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Wow, I am pleased with myself for already having over 400 reviews. What can I say, except thank you all, for all of your support, and for the criticism you have given me. I pray to eventually his 1000 reviews before the story ends, so please keep on reviewing!**

**It is now about two years later. Naruto and Hinata will be stating in the Elder Dimension for about seven more months. There are a few events that will be taking place before that point, so enjoy!**

**Chapter 38: Two Years of Progress**

Mathew looked around the forested area, his eyes showing he was in Sage Mode, before he swiftly ducked an arrow fired at him from behind, which hit the tree about ten feet in front of him before exploding as the seal on the arrowhead released the volatile chakra. Mathew was able to jump back to avoid the blast, when he heard the shout of, "Rasenken Arrow!" He was able to twist his body in midair to avoid an arrow coated with chakra from an adapted Rasengan, and he fired off an arrow coated in lightning chakra at another Rasenken arrow, slicing into the surface of the spiraling coating and deflecting the arrow. He shot two more in rapid succession, but they were deflected by arrows fired by the woman with long black hair and a few arrows with water chakra infused in them flew at him. He was able to deflect them with well placed and timed whacks from his bow before firing an arrow infused with his main elemental chakra, fire, this one managing to nick Hinata in the cheek. She cried out as the poison like energy started to spread through her body, before she disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Mathew sensed the fact that he had gone up against the diversionary Shadow Clone, and was prepared when ten more of his foe burst out of the trees, all with an arrow on the strings of their bows, all of them having the spiraling Rasengan energy coating them. "Rasenken Arrow Barrage!" they shouted in unison as they released their shots at Mathew, who tossed his quiver into the air, and all the arrows flew free, and he spun rapidly, catching several arrows at a time and firing them at the same time at the approaching Rasenken Arrows and at the Shadow Clones. All of his arrows hit either a Rasenken Arrow, deflecting it, or a clone, dispelling it, and once he caught his last arrow, he dashed at the original Hinata who tried to fire another arrow at him, this one with an explosive seal engraved on the head, but he deflected it with his own arrow that was still in his hand by striking the shaft to avoid detonating the seal before putting it on the string of his bow immediately afterwards, and he ducked under a second arrow infused with wind chakra.

Thinking fast, Hinata channeled water chakra into her bow and threw it like a boomerang, and managed to catch Mathew in the face with it, though he acted fast enough to move his head a little so it was not a dead on blow, and it only drew a little blood from his face. He moved fast enough to close in on her and she immediately spun, shouting "Wind and Water Style: Hariken Kaiten!" (Hurricane Rotation) The spinning dome of chakra, with some wind and water chakra blades added to give it the ability to actually shred an enemy as well as repel attacks sprung up, but Mathew was able to back flip away from the attack after hastily stopping his charge, despite the dome having a twenty foot radius, though one of the blades nicked his torso a little. Once the rotation ended, he rushed again.

Hastily backing up, Hinata aimed a Gentle Fist strike at his chest, with her attack laced with wind and water chakra like her Kaiten, but thanks to his increased perception in Sage Mode, Mathew was able to avoid it easily and he aimed a roundhouse kick at her head. She was able to block, but the impact broke her arm despite her having channeled a Rasenken into it, though Mathew's shin bone did crack a little from that aspect of the attack.

She was slammed into the ground and before she could recover, she saw the point of Mathew's last arrow with fire chakra conducted through it aimed straight at her face. "Not bad at all Hinata," Mathew said as he stepped back from her and lowered his bow. She rose and their surroundings faded as they exited the compound's AOS room. "The past two years have seen a lot of growth in you."

"Still not enough though," Hinata said with her head lowered at having lost a spar with Mathew for the eighteenth time in a row. "I still can't beat you Mathew-Sensei."

"Don't worry too much about it. You are already a high level fighter in your own right, and I have not held back once in our previous bouts. You are already capable of pushing me close to my limit, and you have more than exceeded my expectations. Believe me, you are quite formidable now."

Hinata smiled at that. The past two years had gone by with a lot of hard work on both the parts of Naruto and Hinata. She herself had decided to attempt mastering wind as her secondary element in addition to her training with the bow, and had Felix and Naruto as teachers for that. She had done this training with a few Shadow Clones to aid her, and managed to complete the second step of that training before the end of the first year in the Elder Dimension, and her reserves had increased a fair amount as well.

She had then gone on to work on her new close combat style, what she called the Hariken no Nobushi, or the Hurricane Fist, which was an adapted style of the Gentle Fist, which instead of simply sending streams of chakra into your opponent's system to slowly do damage over time with each hit, this sent a burst of both of her elemental chakras into the opponent's system. The wind chakra was carried through both her enemy's chakra network and physical body by the flowing water chakra, and served to rip the chakra network and the internal veins and tissue of her opponent's body to shreds, causing an inability to use chakra in the place that was hit, as well as "bleeding chakra" when the body still sent the energy to the affected area, causing the chakra to flow out of where the network had been torn, rather than re circulated through the body, causing chakra exhaustion over time if an enemy kept fighting afterwards.

The physical damage was also serious, leaving a great deal of internal bleeding wherever it hit, as well as making the tendons and muscles useless for a good while. Felix had been impressed when Hinata had started to make the technique start to work, saying it was even deadlier than the Gentle Fist style, as both the initial damage and gradual weakening that came of the attacks easily surpassed the Gentle Fist. And because you did not have to specifically hit the chakra network for the damage to work, the blows did not need to be quite as precise.

As for Naruto's training, well…

…..

The large golden paw collided heavily with Felix's artificial five element dragon with a great deal of force, causing the wind head to disperse, and part of the earthen body to shatter, before it reformed. Felix was sitting a safe distance away on top of the head of a large red dragon as he concentrated on maintaining Naruto's Bijuu Mode sparring partner. Just three months ago, Naruto's body had developed to a point where he could finally handle the full force of Kurama's chakra, so now they were practicing the link between him and Kurama. Naruto was now capable of staying in full Bijuu Mode for a total of thirteen minutes, and he was a force to be reckoned with.

Before the elemental dragon could retaliate, a quickly formed Bijuu Bomb blasted into it, dispersing the wind head again, and almost completely destroying the earth body, before the golden form of Kurama vanished and an exhausted Naruto fell to the ground, though he was still able to land on his feet with no issues. Felix hit the timer and said, "Thirteen minutes, twenty-nine seconds, six seconds better than yesterday. Your progress is increasing Naruto." The blonde grinned at this. Their surroundings did not fade, because this was not training that could be done in an AOS room.

Felix's dragon, Vargon lowered his head and the green haired man jumped off of the dragon's head. Naruto had once asked Felix why he never summoned the fire breather during one of the fights in his dimension, and Felix had responded that summonings did not work across dimensions, which was a good thing, because he did not want Vargon accusing him of thinking him unreliable being the reason behind the lack of being summoned. Of course, Felix had the Dragon Ruler of All Elements jutsu to compensate, which would have been unusable due to very heavy chakra requirements without the use of Elemental Infinity to supply the required energy, as well as the fact that using all five elements at once was almost impossible even for a Yoshoryuu, so the inventor had to set the jutsu into the blade so the wielder needed only activate it. Felix still admitted to preferring to use summons, because while the artificial dragon was stronger in terms of power, and could reform from otherwise fatal blows that even actual dragons could not withstand, it was a brainless being that required a good deal of Felix's focus to control, which could potentially cost him a fight if an enemy was able to get the jump on him, though his perpetual Sage Mode made that a lot harder than it would otherwise be.

"Yeah, I'm glad that Kurama and I are able to fully utilize his power now, it will make it much harder for the Akatsuki to beat us now," Naruto grinned. "So how is your project going Felix?"

"You mean this?" Felix asked as he formed a Rasengan. "I can now put as many as four elements into the thing, but it is still a struggle to add the last one. Even though my clan is able to use all five elements, simultaneously doing so is close to impossible, even for us. The only one who succeeded in doing so for any jutsu was my great-great grandaunt, Veronica Yoshoryuu, who invented the Dragon Ruler of All Elements, and set the jutsu into Elemental Infinity, so any chosen wielder could use it. If I ever do manage to create a five-element Rasengan, I will have to figure out how to set that into the blade as well."

"At least it's possible for you," Naruto replied. "I will only ever be able to do at most four elements into it, because without some kind of special ability, I can't master all five." Naruto looked a little envious at the thought. Of course, he had mastered fire already thanks to spamming Shadow Clones, and was capable of putting his three elements in a Rasengan at once, though he still needed Shadow Clones to be able to go beyond the first one. Even so, he was now able to form a Rasenshuriken, a Rasenmace and a Rasenbomb without such assistance.

"Don't feel too bad about that, what about that solution you thought of?" Felix asked.

"That's different, I would need Sasuke and Hinata to help me with that, and there is no guarantee it would work either," Naruto responded. "For you, there is a chance that you could do it on your own."

"Well at least I've got nothing on you in some other departments. Case one, how is your fuinjutsu training going?"

Naruto grinned. "Just fine, I already learned how to set some traps with seals that can activate for certain chakra signatures while ignoring others, so I can catch specific targets without worrying about anyone else getting caught in them, that basic seal to engrave the exploding seal formula into metal weapons, so I don't have to worry about tags, and I can make some explosive arrowheads for Hinata and a few other good ones. I bet I could even remake the seals on Arashikatta if I had to. The only thing I dislike is that my sensei in that area drives me crazy," Naruto deadpanned the last part and Felix chuckled. "Remember what he did when Vanessa was teaching Hinata some stronger water style jutsu?"

Felix snorted. He remembered that memorable just perfectly. Just as Hinata had cast the jutsu, which was a continuous blast of high-pressured water that could blast through rock if cast by an experienced user, Isaac had run right onto the training grounds and into the path of the jutsu, butt ass naked. **(A/N: Yes, proper censoring included)**

"Isaac, what the hell are you doing?!" Felix had asked the fatal question as Isaac had gotten up after the jutsu ended. Usually, he felt he was better off not knowing what was going through the idiot's mind, but this time, he had to know why several Yoshoryuu kids were having to have their teachers cover their eyes, a few of the older girls having nosebleeds as they took in Isaac's rather impressive physique.

Isaac had then looked at Felix and responded, "Taking a shower, what else? Could you lower the water pressure for me a little?"

Everyone present either face faulted or developed tick marks, Naruto and Felix included in the latter category. They had then taught Isacc a lesson by giving him a hot bath instead of a shower: Felix used a Rasentide to trap Isaac, and Naruto practiced his fire manipulation to make the water boil, making Isaac's skin red for a little while.

"I almost felt sorry for him when you heated up the water," Felix cackled as their thoughts returned to the present. "At any rate, we should head back, Hinata and Mathew should have just about wrapped up their sparring by now.

…..

"Mommy is so glad to have you back Tora!" the fat wife of the Fire Daimyo cooed as her poor cat was smothered, and a certain almost nine year old girl with red hair and purple eyes, a younger version of her mother, laughed vindictively at the poor anime weeping critter that had scratched her face up quite a bit as she and her recently appointed teammates captured him.

Standing on either side of her was a ten year old boy wearing the Uchiha crest on the back of his black shirt, two katanas strapped across his back in an x shape, and simple grey white shorts similar to what Sasuke used to wear. His black hair was short and straight, and his onyx eyes winced in sympathy for the cat.

Her other teammate was a bored looking twelve year old boy wearing a dark grey jumpsuit. His long straight hair was a rather dirty blonde, and his eyes were a light shade of brown. He had formerly been a part of ROOT, before Itachi had come down hard on the project, so he had been relocated to the academy to finish his training. As a result, he generally kept his thoughts and emotions to himself, though Danzo had not yet completely erased them before the program had ended.

Then there was Sasuke, who was busy filing the mission report, not that there was much to report on this mission. He had swapped the outfit he had last time at this point for what resembled an ANBU uniform, only without the mask, and with the Uchiha crest on the back. He also now had two blades strapped to his back in the shape of an x himself, only they were both pretty similar to his old sword, with the only difference being the handles having designs etched into them, a hawk into the handle of the right handed sword, a snake on the handle of the other.

Sasuke had agreed to take on two more students after the graduation exams a couple of months ago, because there were twenty-six graduates, two more than could be put into three man cells, though Akari had protested to this.

"Please, just let us have another C-rank Duck-Butt Sensei!" Akari whined after the fat old lady had left and her Uchiha teammate immediately threw in his two ryo.

"Yes please, just no more of these jobs that a civilian could do!" he begged.

"Calm down you two. You won't be getting any more missions for a while actually." Sasuke replied and immediately, both Akari and the young Uchiha started protesting this. "On account of a little surprise I have for the three of you," Sasuke continued as he produced three forms. "I have signed all three of you up for the chunin exams in Suna. If you are all willing to take them, we will leave tomor-,"

"Duck-Butt Sensei, I love you!" Akari shouted as she jumped right onto Sasuke's neck, and the former avenger had a sudden sense of déjà vu.

"Get off, you're embarrassing me!" he protested. "And don't you dare snap that picture, Daisuke!" The young Uchiha hastily put the camera he had taken out away, and Akari released her grip on her teacher's neck. "As I was saying, the exams start in a week, and if all three of you are going to take it."

He handed the forms out to all of them and the former Root student looked his over and he mused, "It may well be a chance to test our skills, but are you certain we are ready?"

"Don't be such a stick in the mud Kiyoshi!" Daisuke said. "We are plenty good enough to at least take a shot at it. After all, I graduated two years ahead of time and still got Rookie of the Year Status, and you were just beneath me in the grades area! With the training I got from my clan, and your own special Root training, we are already tough enough to be good competition in the exams, and let's not forget Akari, she's tougher than the both of us put together, and she is just over a year younger than me!"

"Come on, I'm not that good," Akari said modestly, though she was unable to keep a pleased expression off of her face. "You two are good enough to make me work for my victories in spars, and once Daisuke gets his Sharingan, I bet his abilities will get better than mine."

"Please," Daisuke rolled his eyes. "I won't need an overrated dojutsu to prove myself a great shinobi. The problem with Kekkei Genkai is that it's free power without having to strive for the strength, and that can keep the ones who get them from learning how to use that power responsibly. Why do you think the majority of my clan and the Hyuugas have sticks the size of that tree you grew during training up their asses?"

"True enough," Sasuke said, unable to deny that he himself used to feel a little entitled because of his status in the past. "But don't forget, if you ever do awaken the Sharingan, that it is a tool just like any other, and though you came far without it, you already know to to use such strength the right way, so don't go feeling you have to deny yourself the use of one of your greater tools." Daisuke nodded at this. "So if you all decide to take the exams, I will be waiting for the three of you at the gate. If not, then we can just go back to training and taking missions for six months when you are more confident. I'm pretty sure Tora would have escaped again by then so-,"

"We'll take the exams!" all three genin shouted in a panic.

…..

In a dismal cave, the Gedo Mazo appeared and the ten holographic figures of Pain, Konan, Kisame, Kabuto, Kakuzu, Jess, Raizen, Zetsu, Drakmus and Sasori materialized on the fingers. The "reserve members" of the Akatsuki were all there in the flesh not wearing Akatsuki cloaks yet, and they consisted of Hidan, Deidara, Tobi, two figure wearing black cloaks, one of them wearing the hood down and looking like he could be related to Xackary, and a man about as tall as Hidan with pure white hair, deep black bloodshot eyes and two swords at his sides.

"It is time we made a move on the jinchuriki," Pain told the group. "Kakuzu, I am sending you to your former village to collect the Nanabi for us. Unfortunately, instead of Jess, you will be going with Hidan. I assure you this is a temporary arrangement."

"Might I ask why?" Kakuzu asked as he glared down at the reserve member.

"Jess will be a part of a specialized four person team led by Drakmus to go after the Kyuubi, as was recommended by Raizen. He convinced me that this was needed to capture the host of the strongest Bijuu, and wanted his former underlings on it. Dismissed."

And with that, all of the holographic figures dissipated and Hidan went to rendezvous with Kakuzu.

**A/N: So next chapter will have the beginning of the next fight between Naruto and Drakmus, and Akari's teammates get a little more background as they head for the chunin exams. I also want to mention that the popularity poll for my characters has ended, so you can view the results on my profile!**

**I also have to leave another reminder that I will not be using Author Notes to be answering questions for people who ask them in reviews without an account. If you have things you want to ask, get an account so I can pm the answers to you please!**

**Please enjoy my next chapter, and review this one!**


	40. Chapter 39: Siege on the Yoshoryuus

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I did not get many reviews last chapter for some reason, though I can probably blame it at least partly on the speed I posted this one. If you are reading my story, which I take a lot of time to write, please take the time to review! Thank you!**

**So, I am going to try a little thought I had for this fanfic. You see, whenever I conceived of either epic or sad scenes, I always had some kind of background music from the anime playing in my mind, so I will be inserting author notes as I go through the story to tell what OSTs I would play if I could, see if that conveys the moods even better.**

**A lot of things upcoming for this chapter, including exactly what the chapter title implies, so enjoy! Hope you are all looking forward to a slug fest between Naruto and Drakmus.**

**Chapter 39: Siege on the Yoshoryuus**

"Good grief, it's no wonder Minato hates this paperwork," Itachi said as one of his clones dispelled. He himself was working on a pile, while Azami rubbed his shoulders to relieve the stress.

"What is it now sweetie?" she asked tenderly.

"Another civilian council request slipped in to try to lower the standards for graduating academy students next year so their own children have a better shot at becoming ninja. While that would mean we could potentially have more shinobi for the village, Minato refused to send the students into the ninja world unprepared, and I will refuse too."

"Sorry to disturb you brother," Sasuke said as he entered the room. "But I just wanted to say goodbye for about a month. I will be leaving in about an hour. Good to see you Azami."

"How is my nephew doing?" she asked Sasuke. "Is he still coping with my brother's death?"

"He is doing fine. He has ultimately learned from Kazuki's mistakes and is training very hard these days. I have confidence that Daisuke will make a good showing of himself," Sasuke said with his arms folded. "At any rate, later." He Shunshinned out of the room.

"I'm almost finished with the paperwork," Itachi said as he blatantly tore the paper he had just griped about in half before attacking the rest of his piles and making another Shadow Clone to replace the one that had gone out. "Should we get a bite to eat afterwards? I know of a place that has excellent steak."

"That sounds perfect," Azami said, giving her lover a kiss on the head.

…

In the AOS room of the Yoshoryuu clan compound, Naruto and Hinata were going at it in a taijutsu spar, with the former having a slight upper hand thanks to Sage Mode and his healing factor able to repair the damage done whenever Hinata managed to hit him with her Hurricane Fist, albeit slowly, as long as it was not a blow to a vital area. Naruto rushed forward and tried to launch a sweeping kick at Hinata, who jumped back to avoid it and crossed her arms in front of her face to block the incoming natural energy hit. The blow slammed into her and she flipped backwards and thrust her palm forward. "Eight Trigrams: Tempest Palm!" A blast of wind and water chakra was sent at Naruto, who leapt over the attack and landed in front of Hinata before aiming a punch at her face, and she aimed her next strike at his chest.

They both froze, their attacks an inch from each other's target. Had they continued, their blows would have struck each other at the same time, which would have been fatal for the both of them, if they were not in an AOS room that is. "You got me," they both said at the same time to each other before they started to laugh, and they left the room.

"You wanna take the rest of the day off and head into town to get some food?" Naruto asked Hinata, and she nodded enthusiastically.

…

"Zabuza-Sensei!" Kin shouted as she looked for her teacher and his date. She had developed a little more over the past two years, and wore pretty much the same outfit as always. "Where the hell are you, we have to go to Suna for the exams, and you already used enough excuses to keep us from entering in the past! First the one in Iwa, where you said you wanted me and Genyumaru to finish our elemental manipulation training, then the one in Kumo, because you heard about that Hyuuga incident where they tried to kidnap the heiress, only for that agent to get captured, and you went and decided that you did not trust them to leave the last ice style user untouched while there. And then you chickened out of going to Kiri! Stop sucking that lady's face and get your butt out here, I refuse to miss these exams, I never want to have to catch that damn cat again!"

"Is that girlfriend of yours this boisterous when you two are out alone too?" Genyumaru asked Haku as they watched her kick open the doors of abandoned buildings where Zabuza and his girl might be hanging out. Genyumaru had not changed much, though he had dispensed with the old outfit with the purple robe, and now wore a basic blue shirt and black pants and he had a pouch were he kept special chakra conducting knuckles that he wore on his fists when he got up close and personal to a fight, as well as a few scrolls were he kept his more bulky weapons stored.

Haku, who had gotten a little taller and still wore the same kind of kimono, albeit slightly larger, sweat dropped before he said, "Sadly, yes."

…

Zabuza hastily rewrapped his face after one more kiss from the woman he was with as he heard Kin's impatient shouting and felt her killing intent. "Kind of a shame your students are taking the exams in Suna, I would have loved the chance to toy with all three of them a little," Anko joked as Zabuza headed out the door. "I'd love to pay the kunoichi in particular back for interrupting our "alone time."

"Don't worry about it," Zabuza said as he took his cleaver like blade on his way out. "That raccoon like friend of Naruto's is proctoring the exams this year if I heard right, so I will make sure he scares Kin to death before the exams are over." Both he and Anko laughed a little sadistically before he left.

He circled around the area a little bit before he jumped down in front of his squad. "There you are, what the hell were you doing!?" Kin shouted and Haku and Genyumaru both face palmed.

"Sorry," Zabuza said before he decided to annoy Kin by borrowing some excuses. "You see, I got lost on the road to life where a black cat crossed my path, forcing me to take the long way around, only for me to meet an old lady who needed help with her groceries."

…...

A certain silver haired jonin sneezed violently three times in rapid succession, unfortunately, right in the face of his purple haired girlfriend whom he had just been about to kiss, and got a severe beating as a result.

…..

"Let me at him!" Kin shouted as she tried to rush her teacher, only to be held back by Haku. "I'm gonna kill him, don't try to stop me, he doesn't care in the least that he has kept us waiting to make chunin, the least he could do is pretend to be sorry!"

"Do you want to kill me, or do you want to get going?" Zabuza asked, which caused Kin to instantly calm down.

…..

"Still thinking about your old man?" Kiyoshi asked his friend, and Daisuke put the old photo away before sighing. The three man team was currently waiting for their sensei to show up at the gate, though they were about fifteen minutes early.

"Just a little bit yes," Daisuke admitted, and Akari walked up.

"What happened to your family anyway Daisuke?" she asked. She knew Kiyoshi knew the story already, because he and Daisuke had been friends during their last year at the academy.

**(A/N: OST Nightfall plays)**

"I suppose I should tell you since we are comrades," Daisuke said in response. "You do know that I am an only child because my mother died in childbirth right?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "After that, my father stopped taking his shinobi training seriously and doted almost entirely on me. He had been a high level chunin from the Uchiha clan, close to the point where he could become jonin, but he gave that up so he could devote himself to raising me, though he refused to give up being a shinobi entirely.

"But because of his lack of training, he ceased to improve himself, and he started solely relying on his Sharingan and his past training with the clan to get through missions. As a result, when the Uchiha clan nearly revolted, he lost a fight with the village's taijutsu specialist, Might Gai. He survived, but he failed to learn from his defeat and continued to get rusty as he continued to fail to train. My Aunt Azami tried to get him to spar with her several times, but his heart was never in it. The only reason he remained a shinobi at all was because of his heritage as an Uchiha.

"Then when that snake Orochimaru invaded our home, he paid the ultimate price. He fought against a few Oto ninja, and though he managed to take them down, he succumbed to injuries he sustained during the fight. Though he was a member of one of Konoha's strongest clans, he was just as mortal as anyone else when push came to shove. Had he not neglected the fact that he was a shinobi as well as a father, he might have survived."

"You used to blame yourself for his death because you were the focus of his attention, do you remember?" Kiyoshi asked, and Daisuke nodded.

"I used to think that if I had not been selfish enough to let him focus his attention on me rather than his job, he would have trained more and been able to survive the invasion. I also felt guilty that if he had survived and been able to kill more Oto nin, more of the relatively few people of Konoha who died that day might have survived. It was a rough time for me, but Aunt Azami was there for me through it all and I came to terms with it. I ultimately decided not to make the same mistakes Dad did. I refuse to think of a Kekkei Genkai as a substitute for training to get strong."

"Do you hate the Oto ninja who took his life?" Akari asked, and Daisuke shook his head.

"What's the point? The fact remains that they are already dead, and even if they weren't, it would serve no purpose for me to hate them or go after them. Even if I avenged my old man, it would not bring him back."

**(A/N: End OST)**

"So what about your family Kiyoshi?" Akari asked her other teammate who shrugged and said simply, "I never knew them, I was always an orphan. That's how I ended up in ROOT for a while."

"You guys ready to go or what?" Sasuke asked as he showed up, a pack slung over his shoulder.

"Ready when you are Duck-Butt Sensei!"Akari shouted in enthusiasm.

"When are you going to stop calling me that?" Sasuke sighed as he bit his thumb and cast some signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" In a large cloud of smoke, four large hawks and a giant snake appeared.

One hawk turned to the snake and said, "Been a while, how have you been Aoda?"

"Not bad at all Narubutori," the snake replied. "I see that you have grown quite a bit, though not as much as me."

"True enough, but I can still get much higher in the air than your head, even with your new size."

"Touché."

"Alright then," Sasuke said as he got on Narubutori's back, and his students each got on the back of another hawk. "We're flying out to Suna Narubutori. Aoda, I want you to go underground and make sure no threats to us exist on the ground as we go."

"Very well Sasuke-Sama," Aoda replied as he immediately burrowed.

"Let's go then Sasuke," Naurbutori said as he extended his wings and he and his fellow hawks took flight.

…

A bit of a distance away from the Yoshoryuu clan compound, the air shattered and four figures stepped out through the rift. "Get the troops ready Caius," Drakmus ordered one of the other three, who lowered his hood to show that he was the Akatsuki reserve member who bore slight resemblance to Xackary.

**(A/N: OST Akatsuki Theme plays)**

Jess and the other figure stepped back as the one called Caius removed a scroll from is robes and put some of his blood onto the contained seal. There was a large burst of smoke, and about 200 malformed and seemingly rotting men appeared, some with animal or metal parts attached to their bodies. "Such fools my clan has," Caius chortled as he began writing out orders in the scroll with his blood. Apparently, the creatures were mindless and were linked to the scroll they were stored in, following orders written into it. "They follow their so called "ethics" and fail to properly experiment with our power and reach our true potential. You would think that they are capable of something as simple as cheating death itself, just as I have for the past several centuries, but their potential is so very greatly ignored."

The small army received the orders via the link of the scroll and immediately moved towards positions were they could surround the Yoshoryuu clan compound before the siege started. Caius wrote out some more orders before he put the scroll away and cast some signs. "Summoning Jutsu: Edo Tensei!" Eleven coffins sprung up from the ground and the reanimated troops stepped from their caskets. One of them was a familiar face.

"I should have known that you would bring me back via this sickening jutsu Caius," Drek said as he tested his body, including his formerly severed right arm.

"What can I say, you do have your uses," Caius said and he then addressed the remaining troops. "You eight, prepare to use the Octagon Formation Field Jutsu, we will need to keep the clan from interfering while Drakmus captures the Kyuubi for us. As for you two, Victor and Will Yoshoryuu," he turned to a rather heavily muscled man wearing chain mail armor with long grey hair and solid black eyes that blended with the Edo Tensei eyes, and another man with bright yellow hair to his shoulder blades, green eyes, a red dragon tattoo, and a brown shirt with blue pants. Caius gave a sadistic smirk as he continued, "It's time for a reunion with your killer and son, respectively."

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

About an hour later, Naruto and Hinata were walking up the road from town after enjoying their meal, which was rather unsurprisingly ramen, and laughing at the memories of the gleeful face of the restaurant owner as he had counted the Elder Dimension's equivalent of ryo, when there was a large explosion over in the direction of the Yoshoryuu clan compound. Without a word, they upped the pace from a slow walk to a full on sprint back to the compound.

…

**(A/N: OST Stalemate plays)**

There was a lot of dust and debris from where Drakmus's Demonic Sphere (his version of a Bijuu Bomb) had hit the wall, blasting away more than two thirds of it. Five Yosoryuus had been killed instantly, by the explosion, and there were several more injured. Mathew, who had been placed in charge of the watch that day, grit his teeth in anger before firing several arrows in rapid succession, each with an elemental chakra in them, at Drakmus as he reverted to his human form. Another figure came between the arrows and their target, and though the arrows shredded the man's coat, the arrows themselves simply bounced off the man's skin.

"There was no need to have Drek defend me Caius," Drakmus said to the rogue Shikkokyo with a slight frown, and Caius simply shrugged as he directed Drek to charge. As he did so, several of the corpses that had been modified in death followed him.

Mathew immediately set down his bow, and cast several hand signs. "Fire Style: Blazing Tsunami Jutsu!" A large wave of fire burst from his mouth and engulfed Drek and all of the undead beasts. To his horror, he was only able to peel a little bit of skin off of the beasts, and Drek's body was only heated with no harm to him.

"The best part about corpses is that you can modify them any way you please that would kill off a person, but the corpses are still usable," Caius said with a smirk. "As such, it is easy to put some very strong, albeit toxic, chemicals in their veins that would take a lot more heat than that to burn, as well as bonding metal to their bones to add to physical strength and durability to them. Not only that, but since they are already dead, they don't feel pain, and they do not die from otherwise mortal injuries. They won't stop until they are in pieces," he finished as he watched Mathew engage three at once, filling them with arrows, but failing to even slow them.

Realizing his bow was useless, he tossed it aside and coated his hands in lightning chakra, similar to chakra scalpels, but with more cutting power and started to slice through the undead flesh, but even severed limbs were still able to move and the lacerations were completely ignored by the creatures. Mathew jumped back and cast his hand signs. "Earth Style: Defensive Rock Dome!" He was then hidden in a dome of rock and he sat down within it in a meditative pose.

Five more beasts appeared, and joined the other three and Drek in trying to break into the shell. It only took ten seconds for them to succeed, but that was enough for Mathew to go into Sage Mode and he jumped into the air as his defense shattered and a Rasengan formed in his hand before fire chakra was added. "Fire Style: Rasenbomb!" he shouted and threw the volatile sphere down at his assailants. The concussive force of the blast knocked Drek back, and the heat caused the beasts to smolder despite the fire resistant chemicals, and their flesh actually charred.

Meanwhile, three other Yoshoryuus stood their ground as Drakmus came at them in his human form with a sword ready. They drew their own blades, and engaged him, but one as quickly cut down and the other two disarmed. He was about to finish them off when he heard the shout of: "Water Style: Rasentide!" The sphere of water slammed into his side and he got trapped in the water prison as it expanded. Vanessa jumped onto the wall from the watchtower she had thrown the Rasentide at Drakmus from, her eyes making her Sage Mode evident. "You should not have messed with the Yoshoryuu clan," she growled as a Rasenshuriken formed in her hand and she threw it at the seemingly helpless Drakmus.

It was unfortunate for her that Drakmus burst the water prison he was in with brute force and caught the Rasenshuriken with his morphed hand and it dispersed. He returned his hand to normal and he rushed her with his blade ready, and she drew her own. They began a kenjutsu duel that seemed quite equal before Vanessa ducked under a thrust from Drakmus and stabbed at his shoulder, conducting fire chakra through her blade. The attack failed when the tip of her sword failed to penetrate as he had morphed the skin there into his demon's hide and he punched her with one of his extra arms as it sprouted. She skidded backwards but recovered fast enough to block an overhead chop from Drakmus, though the impact knocked her sword loose.

"Guys!" a familiar voice shouted and Drakmus turned to see Naruto and Hinata approaching fast.

"Perfect," Drakmus said as he leapt at Naruto.

…

**(A/N: Still playing Stalemate)**

Meanwhile, Felix, Erika and Kyle were defending the other side of the compound with some help from Isaac, who was holding his own against two of the undead creatures with his double bladed spear unsealed. Felix bisected one, but the top half still clawed at him and he was forced to jump back. "What kind of abominations are these things?" Erika demanded as she knocked several back with an earth style justsu, only for them to get up as though they weren't hurt at all and attack again.

"I don't know, but it's time for some muscle!" Felix shouted as he and Kyle both shouted, "Summoning Jutsu!" Vargon and a sapphire blue dragon appeared, Vargon having been summoned by Felix and the other dragon by Kyle.

"Not bad at all," Jess said as she stepped into the border of the compound, followed by two others.

Felix's eyes widened as he took in the appearances of both other figures. "You…"

….

Naruto saw Drakmus coming a second too late to do anything, and he took a brutal hit to the gut that launched him back away from the compound. "Naruto!" Hinata shouted as she tried to turn to aid her love, but two cloaked figures dashed by her and cast a few signs.

"Sealing Barrier: Octagon Formation Field!" they and six others in the required formation shouted and a bright yellow force field appeared in the shape of an octagon, and Hinata slammed full force into the barrier, which pulsed, before blasting her backwards with a pained cry, though she was mostly unharmed.

"Damn," Mathew said as he avoided another blow. "That is one of the worst barriers to deal with, it is almost impenetrable, and you can't Dimension Door in or out of it. Naruto's cut off from all aid…"

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: So next chapter will continue with the struggles of the Yoshoryuu clan, and Naruto fights Drakmus with all he has, while Hinata tries to get out of the barrier to help him.**

**Please review or else…(holds a gun to a flash drive). Next chapter gets it!**


	41. Chapter 40: Awakened Power

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Sorry, I meant to post this chapter yesterday, but my Mom had other plans for me, I was home alone dog sitting. **

**Awesome, it seems I am getting plenty of reviews, just make sure it stays that way please, I am almost at 500! A story is only as good as the ones who read it after all, regardless of how good the writer is, and if this story is not worth being reviewed by my readers, it is not worth writing for me. That said, my story is now a part of four communities, so I am certainly pleased by that. **

**Hope you guys are all ready for the smack down that's about to occur between Naruto and Drakmus. Felix fights against two of Caius's Edo Tensei, Mathew and Vanessa take on Drek and more of those undead beasts, and Isaac fights another of Raizen's servants. Meanwhile, Hinata will have a struggle of her own against Caius. Not only that, but this chapter is what so many of you have been waiting for, that's right, it's finally here!**

**Chapter 40: Awakened Power**

**(A/N: OST A Crisis After Another plays)**

"Blast it," Naruto said as he took in the barrier and glared at Drakmus.

"Tough luck for you brat," the black haired man said as he sprouted his two extra arms. "This time, no one will interfere. The whole Yoshoryuu clan is now at the mercy of Caius, as is that fiancé of yours. They can't help you, and you can't help them."

"Think something like that will keep me out?" Naruto demanded as he attempted to Hiraishin back into the compound. Nothing happened. "What gives?" Naruto asked his face showed his shock.

"Simple," Drakmus said. "Not only is that barrier tough as nails, but space-time ninjutsu cannot be used to enter or exit its confines. In essence, you can't get in and they can't get out."

"We'll see about that, first I'll deal with you, then I'll get rid of that Caius you mentioned before he harms my friends. Just one question. How did you find out I was in this dimension?"

"Simple. Did you really think that we did not have eyes and ears here? When Felix was seen by one of our spies in this dimension, despite his efforts to keep a low profile, it was easy to deduce that you must have come with him."

"And here I thought I was off the map," Naruto said as he drew Arashikatta. Pain flashd through his eyes, but other than a slight wince at the now familiar sensation, there was no indication that Naruto felt any pain.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Take this!" Drakmus shouted as seals on all four of his wrist activated and a continuous amount of shuriken and kunai were unsealed for him to throw at the blonde. With four arms, this led to a serious threat for Naruto, who frantically deflected them before he took a misstep and fell. Drakmus halted his attack and rushed Naruto, who suddenly grinned as his eyes turned yellow with a red pigment around them and a Rasenshuriken formed in his hand.

**(A/N: OST Strong and Strike plays)**

"You fell for it!" Naruto declared as he threw his Rasenshuriken at Drakmus, who had to halt his charge and thrust out his hands to catch the attack. As the jutsu grinded against his morphed limbs, Naruto leapt into the air above his foe, and formed another Rasenshuriken and a Rasenbomb. He threw them both at Drakmus's back from above, and they combined as they hit, causing a large explosion from the Rasenbomb, fueled by the Rasenshuriken for more potent flames, causing Drakmus to snarl as he fully entered his demon form to take the blow.

Naruto landed as the blast died down, and Drakmus emerged from the smoke fully transformed and slightly burned. "How did you go into Sage Mode so fast?" the beast demanded. "I know that you did not create a Shadow Clone yet, I was watching you too closely, and you weren't still long enough to gather the nature energy yourself!"

"Simple," Naruto said as he formed the familiar cross seal and four Shadow Clones in Sage Mode appeared, before they scattered. "I was gathering the energy while I was deflecting the weapons you were throwing at me."

"How? You were moving the whole time!"

"You're right, it used to be that I could not enter Sage Mode while in motion, because while I could gather natural energy while moving, I cannot regulate how much I take in, and that was just asking to end up as a frog statue if I'm being honest. But that was before Kurama and I came up with a solution."

**"Long story short," **Kurama cackled with Naruto's mouth. **"I figured out that I could purge his system of the surplus Sage Chakra with a bit of my own before it started to affect him. Best part is, it does not take much of my own chakra to do so, just a small amount that I would not even notice gone if I was not paying attention."**

"Interesting," Drakmus said, glaring at Naruto. "It is truly a shame that I have to take you down, you have so much potential." His cheeks puffed out and he fired a blast of the flames that were too dark to even be called black he had used before.

Naruto stretched out his hand and sent a burst of chakra at the approaching fireball. He had remembered what Felix had said about Hellfire, which could not be extinguished or sealed, but it could be returned to its own dimension by using your own chakra to disperse the chakra binding it to the dimension it was summoned to by its user. Sure enough, the flames disappeared. But so had Drakmus during the diversion.

The original Naruto turned in time to block a blow from Drakmus with Arashikatta, the blade of which cracked before it broke, and Drakmus's punch sent Naruto flying backwards before he flipped and landed on his feet and looked angrily at the broken hilt of his sword. "That's the second time you broke my weapon you ass," Naruto said. Drakmus just growled at Naruto before he was engulfed in an explosion, having completely missed the explosive seal Naruto had put on the ground where he had been standing before Drakmus had sent him flying.

Taking advantage of the momentary diversion, Naruto entered his Bijuu chakra mode, complete with the Sage Cloak and red slit eyes, before charging his slightly disorientated foe, who recovered and charged back at Naruto. They met midway, and Naruto formed two extra arms made of chakra and all four of each of their hands locked together, halting the charge of the other. For a moment, they strained against one another, before one of the clones that Naruto had made before hit Drakmus in the side with a Rasenmace before dispelling from the backlash.

The force of the most powerful in terms of damage single element Rasengan easily knocked Drakmus slightly off balance with his hide torn in his side, and the original Naruto took advantage of this to spin Drakmus around and throw him at his other three clones, who were busy forming a collaboration Rasengan, one that had the external appearance of a Rasenmace, but also had wind and fire chakra in the hollow center.

When the clones spotted Drakmus, the one who formed the main body of the jutsu declared, "Fire, Wind, and Earth Style: Rasenrocket! **(A/N: Thank you for this idea, Vallavaryan****)**" The two other clones dispelled as the one with the Rasenrocket spun and flung the jutsu at Drakmus. While the regular Rasenmace could not be thrown, this version propelled by the fire chakra fueled by the wind chakra in the center. This not only made the jutsu throw able, but also drastically upped the damage it could cause due to its speed and the explosion it would deliver once it hit.

Unfortunately, its weakness was that it still moved slower than the other thrown Rasengans, other than its now obsolete predecessor, the Rasencannon, which was a Rasenmace propelled by wind chakra to be thrown, though the range of that version was still abysmal. As a result of the Rasenrocket's somewhat slow movement, Drakmus was just barely able to flap his four wings on time to go up and avoid the jutsu.

However, the original Naruto was prepared for that and had made two more three element Rasengans with two extra chakra arms for each of his hands, these ones similar to a Solid Rasenshuriken, but the earthen shell was molten and flaming. "Fire, Earth and Wind Style: Blazing Solid Rasenshuriken!" Naruto shouted as he let the new jutsus fly, and both slammed into Drakmus with a lot of force. They exploded after the hit, and Drakmus shouted in anger and pain before the blasts died down.

He landed, burned and bloody where the attacks had hit, though not with as much damage as Naruto had hoped, before he pulled a large chunk of rock the size of three elephants from the ground and threw it at Naruto, who used his extendable chakra limbs to break it to pieces before Drakmus moved fast enough to practically materialize behind him and hit him in the back with enough force to break his spine despite the chakra cloak's protection and throw him a good distance forward, and Naruto slammed right into the chakra field keeping him out of the Yoshoryuu compound.

The barrier pulsed and blasted Naruto back at Drakmus, who fired another ball of Hellfire, this one hitting Naruto, and causing him to scream in agony as he landed, the flames burning away at his chakra cloak, before he was able to blast his chakra into it and banish the flames. His wounds were only just starting to heal when Drakmus dashed at him, grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground, carving out a large crater. Naruto retaliated with another chakra arm forming from his chest and punching Drakmus in the face, but the blow had only a little effect beyond further pissing Drakmus off, and causing him to raise all four of his arms to land a double hammer blow, which cracked Naruto's skull.

Drakmus raised his arms again, when chakra chains wrapped around his arms, holding him in place. He turned in time to see the clone that Naruto had not dispelled yet, the one that had thrown the Rasenrocket earlier, rush forward and slam a Rasenmace into his face. The chains the clone was using held Drakmus against the attack briefly, before the clone was forced to dispel from the backlash of his own jutsu, and it was Drakmus's turn to hit the barrier.

The real Naruto got up in time to catch the repulsed Drakmus and he threw him headfirst into the ground. He did not have long to celebrate however, because he got hit with another ball of Hellfire and took both of Drakmus's right elbows in the torso as he banished the flames, sending him flying back and crashing through a boulder.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**"This beast is a lot tougher than I remember," **Kurama growled from within Naruto.

_"I hear ya," _Naruto replied mentally. _"The sad thing is, I remember him being pretty damn tough in the first place."_

**"Do you want to use THAT mode yet?"**

_"Not yet, I don't want to get caught too tired to fight after using your power for that long if we fail to finish him before it runs out, and besides, I'm going to need as much chakra as you can give me if we are to bust through that barrier to help our friends once this is over, so let's save it for when we need to end the fight."_

**"Very well, but don't get too stingy with our power, or it may well cost you."**

Naruto replied with a mental nod and rose from the rubble of the boulder before Drakmus charged again.

…..

Meanwhile, Hinata was trying to get through the barrier herself to get to Naruto, but none of the arrows she fired had any effect, no matter which ones she tried, or where she hit the barrier. "You might want to stop wasting arrows, it will do no good," a silky voice behind her said, and she quickly turned around to see Caius casually leaning back against one of the trees in the confines of the barrier. "Your more immediate concern is me," he continued and he unfurled a scroll.

**(A/N: OST Orochimaru's Battle plays)**

Fifteen of his undead creations appeared bursts of smoke, and he wrote down several instructions for them to follow before putting the scroll away. "They said I should take you hostage in case Drakmus fails to capture the Kyuubi," Caius continued as the creatures rushed Hinata in a blind frenzy. She backed up and shot one through the heart with a wind chakra arrow, but it did not even flinch. "But I have a better idea. I think I should instead kill you and keep you around as an Edo Tensei. Then if the brat manages to escape Drakmus, you can capture him for me."

"That is sickening, I refuse to serve the likes of you in such a manner," Hinata said as her face took on a rare hard expression and she fired an arrow that Naruto had put an explosive seal on. It hit another of the creatures and blasted its arm off. Hinata was then horrified to see the severed arm's fingers pull it along at her, crawling like an insect at her. "Just who are you?" she asked as she was able to pin the arm with another of her arrows before she fired more explosive ones at the oncoming attackers, having come to the conclusion that her only chance of stopping them was to get them torn into pieces too small to do any damage. Her Byakugan activated and she saw the creatures had chakra flowing into them, and it seemed to come from the scroll in Caius's pocket, and she changed her tactics, instead firing an arrow at the scroll.

However, Caius was clearly expecting this, because he was able to catch the arrow just before the tip touched his robes. Hinata's eyes widened as seven of the creatures surrounded her and Caius said, "I am Caius Shikkokyo, who was given the moniker the Corrupt Phoenix over a thousand years ago, because of my method of repeatedly cheating death itself. Even so, I have no intention of simply letting you kill me, even if I do have a means of returning from the grave."

The creatures closed in on Hinata, who ran out of exploding arrows, and tossed her bow aside and spun. "Hariken Kaiten!" The dome with the wind and water blades sprung up and the beasts were struck dead on and got lacerated and a few limbs were severed before they were thrown back. Hinata's rotation stopped and she charged at Caius, who was defended by a few more of the creatures, but they were knocked aside by blows from her Hurricane Fist, and she was able to break several of the metal reinforced bones when she used her Rasenken. Caius just watched as his opponent struggled to reach him as his undead guards continued to hinder her.

…

Mathew ducked a kick from Drek and hit the black steel body with one of his own, but beyond knocking Drek back a little, it had little effect. Mathew did not stop there however, as he fired a few arrows charged with lightning chakra, each of them penetrating slightly die to the metal of Drek'sbody having been weakened by several heatings and coolings given by Mathew's and Vanessa's fire and water style jutsus. So far however, Drek had only recovered from each injury thanks to his Edo Tensei body, and every time they inflicted an injury severe enough to slow him enough to try to use the Elemental Dragon's Separation Sealing on him, several of the undead beasts would take great pains to break away from combat with other Yoshoryuu clan members and would rush to Drek's defense long enough for him to recover.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Vanessa shouted as she tried to cut her way through a few of the corpse before it was too late to seal Drek, only to fail as the Edo Tensi punched her in the face. Mathew coated his hand in lightning chakra again and cut into Drek, but was backhanded across the chest. Edo Tensei was a very unfair jutsu indeed.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

**(A/N: OST Sneaking Nightmare plays)**

"Such a horrible thing to do," Isaac said as he shed his kimono, showing that he wore nothing over his torso under it and had dark green combat fatigues. Despite the questionable state of his mind, his body was in excellent shape with the physique of a well trained triathlon. His torso was also covered in plenty of battle ready seals as well. He got into a stance with his double ended spear to fight off his undead opponents, completely serious now that lives were on the line. "Reanimating a person's corpse like that."

Kyle meanwhile caved in the chest of one of the creatures with a stone encased fist before Jess extended her arm and wrapped it around his neck and threw him to the side. He was able to right himself in the air and land. He glared up at Jess and said, "I take it you want to fight me then?" He went still for a moment as he gather natural energy before he had to hastily stop and avoid one of Jess's fists.

"You're not going into Sage Mode," she chastised him before she charged him again.

"Get out of my way, you freaks!" Isaac shouted as he impaled one of the creatures and released one of his arm seals to engulf it in flames, but they died down before they could take hold on the corpse due to the flame retardant chemicals in its body. He dived out of the way of another blow before he ripped his headband off to open his third eye. "Oh I see, you are remotely controlled by something," he said before he hastily replaced his headband to reduce the drain on his chakra. "In that case," he circled around his foe and slapped a seal on the back of its neck, blocking all incoming chakra from controlling the thing, causing it to collapse like a ton of bricks.

Kyle saw what Isaac was doing and nodded his approval before he slammed his fist into Jess's gut, but with no effect. If he could only buy enough time to go into Sage Mode, then he could detect the chakra of her thee vital organs and do some damage to her. She formed her hands into blades and was able to cut him a little before he could jump back.

Seeing Kyle in a pickle, Isaac finished off a seventh corpse in the same fashion he had done with the first one and tried to rush in to help, but a cloaked figure jumped in front of him and blocked his spear with crossed scimitars. "I will be your opponent," the figure said as he savagely kicked Isaac in the chest, knocking the usually insane triclops back.

…

"Well, I certainly never expected to fight against my killer alongside his father," Victor said as he and Will stepped forward. Felix was torn between giving Victor one of his dirtiest looks and looking sadly at what had become of his father.

"Felix, is that…" Erika asked as she looked at the reanimated Will Yoshoryuu.

"He is," Felix said as his grip tightened on the hilt of Elemental Infinity. "Whoever brought him back to try to destroy us is going to pay dearly… Erika, Vargon, Caroc," he said to his wife and his and Kyle's summons. "I'll take care of Victor and my old man. You three try and get rid of as many of those other corpses as you can. Vargon, use your flames to burn them to ash, they should be hot enough to do the job, even with those chemicals. Caroc, use your water to herd them into areas where you can squash several of them at once. Erika, just use the Elemental Dragon's Separation Sealing jutsu on them, it should do the job."

Understood Felix-Sama," both Vargon and Caroc replied before they went after the largest concentrations of the corpses they could, while Erika looed like she was going to argue, but she took one look at the expression on her husband's face and nodded.

"Don't you dare die on me," she ordered him before she drew her sword and rushed off to defend her other kinsmen.

"I'm so sorry I have to fight you Felix," Will said as his body took up a fighting stance against his will.

"I am sorry myself Father, but I will defend the clan to the end, just as you did. I just wish I could have been close enough to Markus to keep you from being killed by him in the first place. Which brings me to one question Victor," Felix glared at the man as he charged, unsealing a battle hammer as he came. Felix blocked the blow on Elemental Infinity and a shockwave came from the force of it. "How did you twist Markus's mind to the level where he betrayed us for the likes of a scumbag like you?"

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

Naruto skidded backwards, clutching his face from the force of the last punch he had received from Drakmus, before he jumped over one of his foes whip like tails and grabbed Drakmus with several chakra chains and two chakra arms, while making two more to form a Rasenrocket before launching it at Drakmus.

**(A/N: OST Lightning Speed plays)**

Realizing he could not break free of Naruto's grip on time to avoid the jutsu, he instead blasted it with Hellfire to burn it up before it could reach him. He then broke fee of the chains and hands, only to take the Blazing Solid Rasenshuriken Naruto had thrown behind the Rasenrocket in the gut. Drakmus growled as he was blasted back.

The beast recovered fast enough to block several blows from Naruto's chakra arms and punched Naruto in the gut with both of his left hands. Naruto coughed up blood and staggered backwards and Drakmus was about to continue his assault, but Naruto formed six chakra arms, each of which formed a Giant Rasengan, and all of them blasted into Drakmus, throwing him back again.

Drakmus rose to his feet, looking ticked at this point, and Naruto said, "Jeez, you always could take a beating, but you've actually gotten tougher over the past two years." He was about to follow up on his assault, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that made his blood freeze.

…

Hinata was sweating profusely as she looked at the remains of the creatures Caius had used against her. The twisted man clapped his hands in mock applause and said, "Bravo, you beat my creations, and you only had to tire yourself out in the process. Shall we up the difficulty setting?" He pulled out another scroll and there was a large burst of smoke as a large beast that had a lion's body, but also had the heads of a dragon and an eagle stitched onto either side of the neck, with the lion's head between them. It also had seven snakes for tails and dragon wings stitched to its body.

"So what do you think of my Chimera?" Caius asked as it swept its paw at Hinata, who stumbled due to her exhaustion as she tried to dodge and took the full force of the blow, breaking several bones in her body and flinging her back. "I made it with the pieces of several dead creatures."

Hinat tried and failed to rise, and could only spit up blood as the Chimera approached to finish her off.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**….**

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he desperately dashed at the barrier, not caring that he could not break through it, he just had to try to get to her before Caius's beast killed her. Then a burst of pain flashed through his eyes, more intense than ever before.

**(A/N: OST Emergence of Talents plays)**

_"What the…" _Naruto thought as the pain receded again, but this time, his vision was different. It was as if Naruto could actually _see _chakra, not just in the barrier, but he could see the chakra running from Caius's scroll to his Chimera, as well as a white flame that did not exist in the Chimera, but could be seen in the chest of both Caius and Hinata.

As if in slow motion, the Chimera raised its paw to crush Hinata, who was fighting to stay conscious.

As if on instinct, just before he collided with the barrier, Naruto's hands stretched out and a chakra barrier formed, which connected with the force field. What happened next was almost disorientating to Naruto. The force field actually gave way to the blonde, and Naruto felt a flood of energy in his chakra coils, but he ignored it as he immediately Hiraishined to where Hinata lay now that he was within the boundaries of the field. The beast's paw came down on both of them, and Caius looked surprised that Naruto was there, and worried that Naruto had been killed. But then he became worried for another reason entirely.

Naruto had donned his Bijuu chakra cloak, and was holding the Chimera's paw above his head almost effortlessly and he got to his feet, his hands still pushing against the paw. Caius immediately directed his barrier maintaining Edo Tensei to lower the field and their caskets appeared to take them away from the fight. "Drakmus, how did he get through!?" he demanded as the demonic beast leapt to his side.

"I don't know!" Drakmus shouted as he fired a blast of Hellfire at Hinata's prone form.

Getting angry, Naruto threw the Chimera away from him with a mighty push upwards and got between the Hellfire and Hinata. The chakra field appeared again, and the Hellfire struck it. Though the flames themselves weren't absorbed, the chakra binding them to this dimension was and they vanished. "Don't you dare harm Hinata, you bastards!" he shouted as he glared up at Drakmus and Caius, and their eyes widened as they saw Naruto's. Gone were the sparkling blue eyes, or the red eyes of Bijuu Mode. In their place were spheres that had become a light purple in color and had a black pupil surrounded by many circles in a ripple pattern.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: Sorry for those of you who wanted to see Naruto use Shinra Tensei on Drakmus right away, but the majority of stories I have read with Naruto getting the Rinnegan have had him awaken that Path first, and I decided to be more original and have him get Preta Path before he spends the last of his training in the Elder Dimension to awaken the others. On the plus side, he now has the Rinnegan at last, I have been looking forward to posting this chapter for quite a while now! On another note, I hope I made a good selection of OSTs to make the story more epic, even if you have to either play them in your head or listen to them on a separate tab as you read. **

**Also, I decided on giving you guys a little more incentive to review. Anyone who gives a review to this chapter and the next nine as well, for a total of ten reviews per person I give this to, will be given a pm asking if they want a little foreknowledge of something that will happen before the final battle, and if they do, they will be treated to knowing about one foe Naruto will end up fighting, one that will be a huge test of his abilities.**

**So next chapter, Naruto takes on Drakmus and Caius. Even with his new power however, can he pull off a victory? Also, we say goodbye to one of the Yoshoryuus. Which one will I kill off? And will Felix get the answers he wants?**

**Please review!**


	42. Chapter 41: Answers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Alright, I am now at 500 reviews, yay, yay, yay, yay, YAY!**

** Sorry Vallavarayan, I gave you credit for the Rasenrocket, but by mistake I wrote your name as simply V. I have gone back and fixed it already.**

**The invasion of the Yoshoryuu clan ends this chapter, and Naruto fights Caius and Drakmus in a life or death struggle. Also, Felix tries to force Victor to tell him the reasons behind Drakmus's betrayal. **

**Chapter 41: Answers**

"T-that's…" Caius stammered as he saw Naruto's eyes.

"I know!" Drakmus growled glaring at Naruto. The Rinnegan eyes stared intently into the eyes that were darker than black where the whites should be with the pupils being dark grey and the scarlet horizontal slits.

"I'm taking you guys out right now!" Naruto said as he made the cross seal and a Shadow Clone appeared, causing slight disorientation for the blonde when his field of vision suddenly expanded. Both he and his clone looked at each other and they both saw each other's and their own eyes and their jaws dropped as they recognized the dojutsu. "How did I get the Rinnegan?" Naruto asked, and Hinata hazily looked up at Naruto.

"T-the Rinnegan?" she asked weakly. "The same eyes Pain had?"

**"Worry about it later Naruto!" **Kurama snapped within his container. **"As interested as I am to know how you have the same eyes as my Father, you need to focus on getting your Vixen to safety and ending these fools who dared to harm her!"**

"Get Hinata out of here," Naruto ordered his clone, who nodded and picked her up bridal style as she passed out and leapt out of the area. Despite the disorientating effect of the extra field of vision, Naruto was glad to have it now, for he would instantly know if his clone ran into trouble. His Bijuu Chakra Mode donned the Sage Cloak and the center of his Rinnegan eyes changed, the innermost circle turning red with the pupil becoming a slit.

**(A/N: OST Heavy Violence plays)**

"Here I come!" he shouted and he dashed at Drakmus and Caius, who ran in opposite directions, Caius unsealing fifty more of his reanimated corpses and writing instructions to capture rather than kill in the scroll, before they charged Naruto. "Is that all you can do?" Naruto demanded as he formed a Rasenrocket and threw it at the corpses, who were too brain dead to dodge. The jutsu blasted into them and completely destroyed all but a few of the bodies that were on the edges of the attack, and Drakmus paled at the thought that the jutsu could have hit him several times, before he grabbed a boulder and flung it at the jinchuriki, who took the blow in the back of his head, and the rock shattered into dust as it hit, though it had little effect on Naruto.

Caius actually dashed forward and punched Naruto in the gut about as hard as Tsunade could strike, surprising the blonde as he was flung back. He righted himself and tried to suck in air for a moment. "How can a guy who relies on his dead things to fight hit so hard?" he demanded of Caius as he dodged a swipe from the Shikkokyo's Chimera.

"Simple," Caius said as he closed in and engaged Naruto in close quarters. "My powers allow me to revive the dead muscle cells in my body, cells that die as they replicate. As such, my muscle mass becomes much more efficient, especially when I use my chakra to further strengthen the limbs. Drakmus may be Lord Raizen's right hand man in terms of power, but I am his left hand for good reason, not just because I have served him for far longer."

Naruto jumped away from Caius and his Chimera and ducked a blow from Drakmus before grabbing one of the latter's extra arms and his Preta Path became active, causing the chakra to be drained from the limb and it returned to a human form and receded into Drakmus's body. Drakmus hastily backed off and channeled more chakra to the limb, causing it to return. "Just who the hell is this Raizen you mentioned?" Naruto demanded.

"You really don't know?" Caius chuckled. "He is in the books you know, under the same name as well."

"That can't be right, Felix had been looking for ages, and there was nothing!" Naruto replied.

"Clearly, he has not been looking in the right books then," Drakmus said as he cast a few hand signs. "Hellfire Style: Infernal Inferno!" An explosion of Hellfire burst from Drakmus's mouth and hands and headed right for Naruto, who immediately activated Preta Path again. The flames hit the absorption barrier and the energy binding them faded again, causing the flames to disperse.

Caius took advantage of the momentary distraction to get behind Naruto and throw a punch that slammed into the back of his head and threw him several feet forward before Naruto was able to flip around and he impaled Caius through the chest with one of his chakra arms, killing the rogue Shikkokyo instantly.

Naruto felt sorrow for having killed, but at least the man's death was painless, and he could not let the man continue living to hurt others. Then nine coffins came from the ground around Caius's corpse, surprising Naruto, as the eight previous barrier users exited their coffins and took their formation to cast their barrier. The ninth coffin opened and another man who looked like he could be a Shikkokyo, clearly in Edo Tensei Mindless Mode, approached the body and started channeling purple chakra into it to close the wound.

Naruto immediately rushed the barrier, intending to stop what was happening, only to get slammed from behind by Drakmus, who then positioned himself between Naruto and Caius. "That's it!" Naruto shouted as he slapped his palms together. "You bastards have threatened my precious people for long enough!" he declared as he took the full force of Kurama's chakra and an explosion of power took place as he went Full Bijuu Mode.

"Just great," Drakmus said as he looked at the giant golden fox that was formed with the Bijuu Mode Naruto standing in the mouth. The golden paw came down on top of Drakmus, who caught it and managed to force the paw back up, only for Naruto to extend two of the tails and sweep them under the paw from opposite directions for to violently sandwich Drakmus between them. Then Naruto felt an impact in his side as the Chimera followed the standing orders written on the scroll.

**"Gotta do better than that," **Naruto snorted as his seven other tails lashed at the Chimera and ripped it to shreds that were too small to do anything. Drakmus leapt at Naruto, bloodied more than ever from the last attack, and he formed an energy ball similar to a Bijuu Bomb from his mouth. Naruto replied by making a Bijuu Bomb.

"Demonic Devastation Sphere!" Drakmus shouted as he fired it off.

**"Bijuu Bomb!" **the collective voice of Naruto and Kurama bellowed as they let their own attack fly. The two chakra orbs collided and exploded, flinging Drakmus back, and causing Naruto and Kurama to dig their feet into the ground. Drakmus recovered by using his wings and air dashing at the transformed Naruto and smacking Kurama's face with his two right arms, actually knocking them on their side.

**"Man, a bitch slap from that guy hurts a lot," **Kurama grunted as Drakmus charged another Demonic Devastaion Sphere. One of Kurama's tails swept at the flying demon, who skillfully performed a rolling maneuver out of the way before he fired the attack into the transformed duo's gut causing Kurama to roar in pain before he was able to slam a tail into Drakmus, knocking him out of the air and into the ground, carving a huge crater into it, and kicking up a lot of dust.

Naruto and Kurama both winced as they felt several more blows from three more Chimeras as a now revived Caius put the scrolls that held them back into his pockets and the nine coffins once again disappeared into the earth. "Did you really think I would only have one Chimera in stock?" the rogue Shikkokyo asked rhetorically as Kurama and Naruto began attacking their new foes, and Drakmus dug himself back out of the ground, looking completely pissed at this point.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

"Answer me!" Felix demanded as he sidestepped another blow from Victor, only to get kicked in the side of the head by his own father and knocked into the side of the fortress walls. He quickly got out of the rubble and bisected Will with a cut from his sword. Before he could use the Elemental Dragon's Separation Sealing, he was forced to avoid a swing from Victor's hammer.

"Just try and get me to talk. While it does not matter to me if you know anymore, I think I would rather spite you right now," Victor said as he swung again, only to be blocked by Felix grabbing the handle of his hammer and kicking through Victor's midsection.

"Then I have no choice but to take some of your memories as my own," Felix said as he grabbed his reanimated foe by the head. "Though I would rather not have had to enter your twisted mind. Pulse Imprint Jutsu!"

**(A/N: OST Scene of a Disaster plays)**

_Flashback_

_"Come on Victor-Sama, I already have my demon form down already, please let me go visit Felix today!" a young Markus pleaded of his master._

_Victor looked down at Markus before shaking his head. "You still need to practice Markus. If our coup to overthrow the tyrannical council is to succeed, then a lot depends on what you will be capable of by the time you reach ten years old, and that is only three years away. I also want to teach you how to use Hellfire soon, so keep at it."_

_"I've BEEN at it for the past ten hours! Come on, it's been a month since you last let me visit Felix, and he is like a brother to me!"_

_"And does he return those brotherly feelings?" Victor asked with an edge to his voice._

_"What do you mean, of course he-,"_

_"He does not," Victor continued ruthlessly. "He sees you as a pest, a burden to himself and his own training. He was given the task of being your caretaker for the first five years of your life, and that is as far as his affection goes. You were merely a job to him, and he fears your power. You would do better to forget about him and focus on your own potential for now!"_

_Victor was then slammed through the wall after Markus had struck him with both hands, having morphed them into their demonic shape. "I don't believe you!" Markus shouted before he fled the compound, tears flowing from his eyes._

_Victor snarled as he rose to his feet, and coughed up a bit of blood. In hindsight, he should have seen that attack coming. His eyes narrowed as he decided he would have to take further measures if he was to mold Markus into his weapon._

_….._

_"So what did you want to discuss with me Victor?" Brad Kokorotsuisuta (Mind Twister) asked inside of Victor's private chambers a few days later. His clan was one that heavily specialized in genjutsu, and could easily master virtually any learnable jutsu in that department with ease. They were well known for interrogation techniques as well as their capacity for driving any enemy inexperienced in genjutsu insane. Brad was one of Victor's most trusted servants, and was a genius even among his clan for the art. He was the one who was helping Victor frame the Elder Dimension's government for heinous deeds, so Victor could justify his coup and grab power._

_"It's about the weapon, the part demon we created," Victor replied. "He is not being cooperative. While he is getting very powerful indeed, he still has a ways to go before he is able to play the role I intend for him. In the meantime, he is distracted by that useless bond he has with the Felix brat."_

_"So you intend to make him sever the bond, one way or another, is that it?" Brad asked._

_"That is correct. And I need you to do a task for that. I want you to use your genjutsu abilities to implant this memory I scripted out for you within his mind." Victor handed Brad a few sheets of paper, and Brad looked them over. _

_"The jutsu you want me to use is risky Victor," Brad stated. "If the genjutsu memory is dispelled before it fully assimilates into his mind… he could very well turn on us."_

_"Which is why I have not taught Markus how to dispel genjutsu yet. And by the time he does know how to do so, the implanted memory will already be a part of his own mind, and he will believe it to be as real as the bruises he got during last week's training session. Oh, and make sure it is set to always surface whenever Markus starts thinking about the bond he and Felix have shared. Wouldn't want him to have a relapse and return to his friend's side, now would we?"_

_"Very well, but this genjutsu is also forbidden, and is punishable by a lifetime incarceration if used without good cause, so…"_

_"Way ahead of you," Victor said as he handed Brad an envelope, which evidently held a large sum of money._

_…._

_It was about a week later when Markus had come back to Victor and apologized for doubting his words. The memory that had been implanted was one were Markus overheard a conversation between Felix and Kyle, one that held words that made Markus believe that the bond he had with Felix was a lie. And after that, Markus began to throw himself into his training. Even the sturdiest training dummies were easily broken by the young demon, and Victor smiled when Markus admitted that he imagined each one to have the face of either Felix or Kyle._

_End Flashback_

**(A/N: End OST)**

Felix returned to reality, shaking with sheer rage as he sheathed Elemental Infinity and started punching Victor as hard as he could, blasting pieces of the Edo Tensei body out with each blow. Felix did not care that Victor did not feel pain from the blows, or that he would only regenerate, he just wanted to take his rage out on the heartless bastard who ruined the happy life Markus could have had, all for his own selfish, twisted goals.

**(A/N: OST Need to be Strong plays)**

"Felix, watch out!" Will shouted as he shot a bolt of lightning chakra at Felix, who sensed the attack on time thanks to Sage Mode and despite his enraged state of mind. Felix knocked Victor away from him and ducked under the jutsu and threw a punch laced with wind and lightning chakra at Will from a distance, sending the chakra at his father and blasting the Edo Tensei back.

Felix had no time to celebrate however, as Victor had regenerated and managed to land a blow from his hammer between Felix's shoulder blades. Felix coughed up blood as he was thrown forward, towards his regenerating father. Will laced his hand with lightning chakra and thrust it forward, only for Felix to right himself on time in the air and move his head to the side so he only got his cheek cut. Just as Felix landed, he drew his blade and decapitated Will. Before the body could regenerate, Felix tried to slap his palm against the chest to place the seal on him, but he only got a kick in the side from Victor for his trouble.

Felix was thrown to the side by the blow and rolled to his feet on time to deflect another shot form that hammer and stabbed Victor between the eyes. He then turned to see Will coming at his side with a jutsu using lightning, wind and fire chakras to sent a bullet shaped shot of the elemental energy at a foe. It was Will's greatest jutsu, the Volatile Gun, and it had enough power to level several buildings at once.

Felix immediately made three Shadow Clones and formed a Rasenshuriken, with the clones adding lightning, water and earth chakra to the jutsu, causing it to gain a shell of stone with water swirling in the center, conducting a large amount of lightning chakra. Will shot the Volatile Gun, and Felix threw his own jutsu as he shouted, "Earth, Water, Lightning and Wind Style: Electrobomb Rasenshuriken!"

The jutsus collided in midair, and Felix's easily overpowered Will's and continued on its course. It was not for nothing Will was once Yoshoryuu clan head though, despite his disadvantage of Felix having his old blade instead of him. One of the things the Volatile Gun was good at was that it could be formed quickly and easily, so could be shot multiple times. Will managed to get off five more shots and managed to marginally slow the incoming four element Rasengan before it hit him, the earth shell breaking and releasing and explosion of lightning chakra, conducted by water chakra and adding a devastating amount of damage to the already powerful Rasenshuriken.

The attack took away all but Will's lower legs, which stood in the same place as they were before as the Edo Tensei pieces began to reform. Felix was marginally held up by Victor as he moved to seal his father, but he kicked the nuisance through several pieces of masonry. Just as Will returned, Felix tackled him and tried to put the seal on him again, but this time Will channeled lightning chakra through his body, similar to the Chidori Stream, and blasted Felix back and into the wall of the compound with enough force to knock the wind out of him and knock Elemental Infinity from his grip.

…

Kyle used a fire style jutsu to knock Jess back from him for a moment, and she laughed at him as she got up. "Sorry, were you hoping I was going to burn?" she asked mockingly. "Hate to disappoint you, but my body is even more flame retardant than Caius's chemicals."

"I knew it would not be that easy," Kyle said as he cast a one handed seal to use an earth style jutsu. Several spires of stone came out of the ground and impaled Jess in several places. "But that jutsu was not to burn you. It was to send you to that spot, where I set the jutsu you are in up earlier."

"Not bad, you got me there, but unless you can figure out where you need to hit me, which you can't do without Sage Mode, which I haven't let you use, I will just keep coming back!" Jess declared as she sharpened her hand and extended it at Kyle to impale him, and he dodged as she worked to slip her body loose of the spires.

"Earth Style: Giant Stone Fist!" Kyle said as his hand was encased in a very large amount of rock and he charged Jess, who was still reforming her body. "You're right, I can't tell your weak points, so instead, I will just crush you whole!" he shouted and brought the entirety of his encased hand down on Jess, shattering the spires and crushing her to the ground flat. The blow had also hit with enough force to compress the ground beneath it, so even if Jess had moved a part of herself underground to safety, there was still a good chance she was killed by the attack.

**(A/N: End OST)**

Kyle removed his hand and let the gargantuan stone fist crumble from around it and looked at the remains of his enemy, and seeing nothing more than bloody pulp. He sighed with relief and turned to see that Isaac was currently being kept on his toes by a foe wielding two scimitars and covered entirely in a black cloak. Kyle was just about to go to try to help when he felt an impact on his back, a little to the left. He looked down to see a flesh colored blade poking out from his chest, having impaled his heart.

"I'll admit, I'm a goner after that," Jess said weakly from behind him, the bloody pulp having reformed into her one last time. She coughed into her hand and blood coated said hand. She retracted the hand she had impaled Kyle with as the Yoshoryuu fell to his knees his vision blurring. "But you're coming to hell with me," she gurgled as she removed her blood covered Akatuski ring from the hand she had coughed into earlier and tossed it into a rift she managed to open, before she collapsed, her last breath leaving her body.

**(A/N: OST Man of the World plays)**

"Kyle!" Erika shouted as she came onto the scene and flipped her husband's elder brother onto his back. "If only I was better at Medical Jutsu," she cursed as she tried to heal Kyle's mortal injury, only for his hand to come up and grab one of her arms.

"Don't…" he whispered weakly. "I'm done for…"

"Don't give up like that!" Erika shouted as she continued to try to heal him. "Felix would kill me if I let you die on us now!"

"He'll forgive… you… But at least I was able to… take her out… as well," Kyle said as he looked in Jess's direction. And with that, his hand fell limply to his side as the last of his life fled his body.

Erika looked at her brother in law's peaceful face before she dissolved into tears, sobbing on his chest. "What… am I going to say to Felix?" she asked herself. "Why must he suffer so much? First he loses his father to one he called his friend, and now Kyle too…"

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

Drakmus was panting heavily as he was supported by Cauis, and they both stared at the spectacle of Naruto and Kurama making short work of Caius's last Chimera. "We should retreat for now," Drakmus said. "He still has about five minutes in that form, and I can't continue fighting."

"Agreed," Caius said as he pulled out his scroll and recalled all of his still functional corpses into it, as well as still usable pieces of his Chimeras. He also recalled his Edo Tensei before he made a rift and stepped through it with Drakmus. The battle had ended.

…..

Drek was looking with irritation at Vanessa and Mathew, and four other Yoshruyuus who had dismembered enough of the undead slaves to support their head's children. A coffin then sprung up to reclaim Drek, who sighed as he was removed from the battlefield.

….

Will was standing over a bloody and exhausted Felix, holding Elemental Infinity in his hand and prepared to strike down his son. Victor looked sickeningly pleased to see the one who killed him at the mercy of his own father. Will's arm quivered as he fought against the movements of the Edo Tensei Jutsu, but his arm descended to cut Felix's head off. A moment before the blade could reach the neck however, coffins came to reclaim both Will and Victor, the latter protesting angrily, and the former having relief grace his features before he tossed the sword to the side to avoid taking it with him.

Felix was able to get back to his feet shakily, and leaned against the side of the compound for support.

….

**"Darn, they're gone,"** Naruto sighed, having just fired a Bijuu Bomb at them only to find that they had escaped through the rift on time. The chakra that made up Kurama's body retracted into him and he landed, panting slightly. "But at least we won, huh?"

**"Don't celebrate just yet, we still need to figure out who is still alive after that, and we should figure out what's up behind your eyes as well," **Kurama stated.

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto sighed as his eyes closed for a moment and his extra field of vision from the clone he had sent with Hinata suddenly disappeared. His eyes snapped open and he shouted, "Oh no, Hinata!"

He was about to run off in their direction, but Kurama snapped, **"Relax, would you, your eyes just shut off, your clone did not dispel! Did you get any memories from it?"**

"Oh yeah, guess you're right," Naruto said, a little embarrassed. Kurama sighed.

**"See? Kami, you can be such a fool sometimes, even now. Makes me look bad when my vessel is stupid."**

"I am not stupid, you take that back!" Naruto declared as he channeled chakra into his eyes instinctively and the extra field of vision returned as his Rinnegan reactivated. "Huh, I wonder why I can turn this on and off and Nagato couldn't. Come to think of it, how did I get the Rinnegan in the first place?"

….

Meanwhile, in Naruto's world, Takigakure's outskirts were not having a good day. Two missing nin had shown up and had caused a lot of destruction, and though several shinobi had tried to defend their village, one of the ninja would not die and the other easily defeated his adversaries before facing the green haired jinchuriki.

Hidan rose from the circle he had just used to sacrifice several of Taki's jonin and said, "Seriously, those guys were jonin? I swear, these small villages will give that title to anyone so they can bluff about their strength. Are you done yet Kakuzu?" he shouted the last part as he looked around to find his temporary partner.

"Must you be so annoyingly loud?" Kakuzu demanded as he moved a piece of rubble out of his way, carrying an unconscious Fu over his shoulder.

"That, coming from the guy who single-handedly demolished a good section of his old home? I can't get much louder than that, trust me."

"You are quite fortunate that this is a temporary arrangement," Kakuzu growled. "Otherwise, I would surely find a method of killing you that worked before this ended. I can't wait to get back to collecting bounties with Jess, at least she understands the value of money and does not preach endlessly about a deity." **(A/N: Who's looking forward to his reaction when he finds out he will be stuck with Hidan due to Jess being dead? lol)**

"Well, let's get out of here before anyone else decides to hinder us, not that I would mind sacrificing a few more to Jashin-Sama."

Little did the pair know, they were currently being watched by a crow. The bird flew off to a cave where a partially unfurled scroll was hidden, part of it held open by a stone. It was a special tool, one that was linked to another scroll. Whenever something was written in one, the writing would appear in the other, perfect for long distance communication. There was also ink nearby that the crow dipped its beak into and began to write.

….

Itachi had just finished a stack of paperwork and was about to move on to another when a beeping noise could be heard from a hidden cabinet in his desk, alerting him to one of his message scrolls getting something from the other end. "That really is a useful jutsu of yours Ceilia," Itachi said to himself as he opened the cabinet and pulled out the scroll and opened it. When he was finished reading, he immediately took stock of which Leaf Shinobi were currently in the village before called in his ANBU guard. "I want you to get me Team Kimimaro at once. I have an S ranked mission for them."

**A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I bet many are wondering what will happen with Drakmus in the future, now that Felix knows the truth. Hope you are all looking forward to next chapter!**

**Please Read and Review!**


	43. Chapter 42: Akatsuki Pursuit

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Got a good amount of reviews for last chapter, and the story has hit 100,000 views! Thank you all so much for your continued support for my story! **

**This chapter will be about the aftermath of the seige of the Yoshoryuus, Akari and her team's arrival in Suna, and Kimimaro's team's pursuit of Kakuzu and Hidan. Hope you all enjoy!**

**Chapter 42: Akatsuki Pursuit **

"This is your mission," Itachi said to Kimimaro as his team of Suigetsu, Karin and Jugo. "Takigakure's jinchruki has been taken by two members of the Akatsuki, which I believe you are familiar at least a little bit with due to your past history with Orochimaru." Kimimaro nodded. "You are to go to Takigakure and find the trail that my crows have left. They are even as we speak following the pair. Stop them from extracting the Nanabi from the jinchuriki with any means possible. You are to leave at once."

"Understood!" Kimimaro said as he and his team Shunshinned out of the office.

"They are on the move now," Itachi mused about the Akatsuki. "Soon, Naruto, Hinata, Minato and Jiraiya will have to return."

…

Hinata woke up inside of the Yoshoryuu clan infirmary to see about thirty others being treated for injuries and several body bags. Felix was busy giving treatment to about ten of his kin, using Shadow Clones to divide his attention better, while listening to a report with another clone. "Of our 94 knights, we have taken 41 casualties, including Kyle-Sama, and most of the survivors are currently in here," the clan member was saying to Felix's clone. "We currently have 17 ready to fight again, not including you or your family, should the enemy return to try to finish us off. I hate to say it, but we took a severe beating."

_"Kyle-Sama is dead?" _Hinata thought as she noticed that it was Mathew who was busy healing her. Naruto was nowhere in sight.

"The clan has been through worse," the Felix clone said, though his heart was not fully in his words. He was grieving for the loss of his kin, and his brother more so. "We can recover from this. What is the state of the corpses Isaac put those seals on?"

"We have them stored in the lower levels. It's not freezing down there, but it should be chilled enough to keep the bodies in a reasonable enough shape until we can have one of the Shikkokyo clan members examine them for any weaknesses they may have, in case we need to fight them again."

"Good, they were tough to deal with from what I've heard. Knowing any of their weaknesses will be invaluable."

"The compound itself is in decent shape other that the part of the wall that got hit by Drakmus, and several other places that took hits on the compound, but that is to be expected. I estimate repairs will take no more than a month."

"Alright then. You are dismissed." The clan member bowed and left the infirmary.

"Hinata, you're okay!" Naruto said as he came into the room and rushed to embrace her.

"Ouch, Naruto-kun that hurts," she said as her injuries flared up when Naruto hugged her, and he quickly released her when he realized she was not fully healed yet.

"Uh, sorry," he said a little sheepishly. Mathew gave a small laugh.

"We had to kick him out until you woke up from your wounds and chakra exhaustion, he was making a nuisance of himself during the healing," he said, and Naruto looked a little embarrassed.

"N-naruto-kun," Hinata asked a little tentatively. "Is what they said about Kyle-Sama…" she could not go any further. Naruto's expression saddened immediately and he nodded. Tears welled up in Hinata's eyes and she lowered her head. "It's our fault. We were the ones they were after, and Kyle and several other clan members died to defend us."

"Hinata…" Mathew said.

"Yeah, it is my fault," Naruto sighed. That was when the original Felix came up, grabbed Naruto's and Hinata's heads and cracked them together. "Owwwww! What the hell was that for!" Naruto demanded as he and Hinata massaged the lumps on their heads.

"You are both idiots," Felix replied. "No one in my family blames you for what happened to Kyle. If anything, Erika blames herself for not being able to heal him, but blame is counterproductive. What's done is done. Every single one of my kinsmen knew what they were protecting and why. And don't forget, it was not just you two that we were defending. Your entire dimension is counting on Naruto to prevent the Jyuubi from returning this time and falling into the hands of Madara or whoever from this dimension is manipulating the Akatsuki from the shadows. So a lot more than your safety is at stake. It was that Kyle died to protect.

"And before you start Naruto, it is understandable that you are as of yet unable to use the Rinnegan to revive people. The first Path only came to you in a moment of desperation, and that's what awoke the Rinnegan in the first place. The rest you will have to work for."

Naruto sighed. He had tried to resurrect Kyle after he had heard what had happened, but nothing he thought of had been able to summon the King of Hell. It was clear he would have to strive to awaken the other Paths if he wanted to use them.

"How did you awaken the Rinnegan, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. "You did not have it last time, so how can you have it now?"

"Well, I don't really know," Naruto said as his eyes activated, showing Mathew and Felix the dojutsu.

"I do have a theory at least," Felix said. "Naruto, do you remember that first fight you had with Drakmus?"

"The one where I got my ass kicked until you showed up?"

"That's a harsh way of putting it. You did put up a decent fight if the injuries Drakmus had on him were any indication. But he end result was a large quantity of your blood being lost, and the only way to get you back to a decent condition was a transfusion, which Sasuke was able to give thanks to a seal I had that let him donate B type blood though his blood type as AB. That gave you Uchiha DNA, and you already had Senju DNA from the fact that you are an Uzumaki, which is distantly related to the Senju as you know. Those two clans were the ones that the Rikudou Sennin separated the component parts of his Kekkei Genkai into, the descendants of his own two sons. So it stands to reason that the DNA combined into the Kekkei Genkai."

"But it's been two years since Sasuke gave me his blood, why did I not get the Rinnegan sooner?"

"It had to awaken first, but there also remained the fact that you did not have a dojutsu to begin with, so your body still had to adapt to the genetic commands that came from the DNA, hence the pain in your eyes over the past two years, and the fact that your chakra coils in that area have been growing as you felt that pain."

"I see," Naruto said.

"At any rate, I have to arrange for a Shikkokyo to come the compound, so if you will excuse me," Felix said as he rose to leave.

"Are you going to have him revive Kyle?" Hinata asked hopefully and Felix stiffened.

"No, by the time a Shikkokyo can come, it will be too late to do anything, and their powers are rarely used for that purpose anyway because there is a risk to the Shikkokyo in question. Plus, I can't ask for Kyle to be brought back since there are so many others in the clan who perished. It would not be fair for them or their families. The reason we need one to come is because we need to tell them about their rogue member Caius, as well as what he used as his tools. If anyone knows how to deal with them, it would be a Shikkokyo."

"I'm sorry," Hinata whispered, knowing that Felix did not want to discuss Kyle at the moment.

"It's fine," Felix said as he left the infirmary with a sad sigh. Mathew soon followed.

"At any rate, the medics say you can be discharged tomorrow," Naruto told Hinata. "Your injuries were not all that bad, considering what had happened to you. Good thing too, because if any lasting damage had been done, I would rip Caius a new one," he added under his breath.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry you had to save me from worse," Hinata said with her head down. "I was too weak to fend for myself again…."

"Hinata, you're stronger than you know," Naruto said to her. "You just went up against an enemy that had a means of wearing you down rather than fight you himself. I am sure you will beat him yourself if you ever do come across him again. And besides," he chuckled. "Even if you had no strength for battle at all, I would still gladly come to your aid. You are not a burden to me. You never could be. It's because I have people like you to protect that I am strong enough to do so."

"Thank you Naruto-kun," she said, still tearing up, but with a smile on her face.

"Don't mention it," Naruto said as his face came up to hers so they could kiss. And then they heard the click of a camera. "Seriously Isaac, can't you let us have some privacy?" Naruto demanded as he cursed the fact that the moment was ruined. "I mean, I know there are some other people in the infirmary too, but they have better things to do then bug people when they are having a freaking moment!"

"There is no privacy!" Isaac cackled as he pocketed the camera. "The walls have eyes and ears! And what's worse is that there is no logical place to put these to keep them from spying!" With that, he took a bunch of eye patches and ear plugs from his pockets, causing Naruto and Hinata to sweat drop.

"No logical place…" Naruto said. "Since when were you even the slightest bit logical?"

"…..Good point," Isaac said, resulting in both of his victims face palming.

…..

"Did we really have to fly to this village Sasuke-Sensei?" Daisuke asked as his face turned green and he vomited into the sand after he had just gotten off his hawk, which hastily returned to where Sasuke had summoned it from.

"In my defense," Sasuke said as he submitted their travel papers to the gate guards. "I did not know that you got sky sick, on account of the fact that was your first time in the air."

"Well we could have come by foot," Kiyoshi said. "It is still six days before the exams begin, so we are rather early."

"True, but I want make sure we can get a decent hotel for the trip, and it will give you three a chance to get used to the heat of the desert before you actually have to fight in the survival part of the exam. That should give you a slight edge against non local chunin hopefuls."

"Well what are we waiting for," Akari said once the papers were finished being processed and they were allowed into the village. "Let's go find the nearest ramen bar while we're here!"

There were sweat drops from her entire team as she disappeared into the village in a blur. "At this rate, she will drop half dead from dehydration," Daisuke said in a deadpan.

"Nah, she'll find the ramen bar first and she will eat as much as she can before the dehydration registers," Sasuke replied. "Though she might slam into a few-,"

"OUUUUCCCCHHHHH! WHY DON'T YOU WATCH WERE YOU'RE GOING MISSY!" a loud voice shouted, causing the remainder of the team to sweat drop again.

"…locals in her enthusiasm to get there," Sasuke finished, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We better go after her to keep her out of any more trouble."

…..

"So hot!" Kin complained as Suna came within sight a few hours later. "We've been moving nonstop to get there for the past day and a half, and the heat is killing me! Were the hell is an oasis when you want one?"

"You're the one who wanted to come to these exams in the first place," Genyumaru muttered, causing Haku to chuckle.

"Quit complaining, we are almost there," Zabuza told his team. "And once you three make chunin, I have absolutely no doubt that you will find the trip to have been worth it."

"Yeah, well, we should have made the rank a year and a half ago when the exams were in Iwa," Kin pouted. "But no, you had to continue to find excuses to procrastinate then and after that. I'm telling you, I am already chunin level, and don't even get me started on your old apprentice and Genyumaru, if it weren't for those stupid leaf technicalities, they would both already be jonin! Then again, I suppose it does have its perks," she continued with a slight smile. "The wait may well be worth it when we totally one side the competition this year, hehehe… Oh, the looks that will be on their faces."

"It's bound to be amusing," Haku replied. "But it is not wise to underestimate the competition, even if we have been training for longer than most of them. For one, I bet Sasuke's team won't be pushovers, I heard they were also taking the exams this year."

"Yes, they are bound to be strong," Genyumaru agreed. "From what I heard, Sasuke is a very good teacher, and he has had one of them as a personal apprentice before he took on the other two to make the four-man cell."

"Still, we got more experience," the kunoichi of the group said. "I'm not saying we should let our guards down, that would be stupid, but I still have confidence that we are the strongest overall team of genin seen in a while."

….

"Welcome back, Hidan and Kakuzu," Tobi said when they made it back to the cave that was their hideout. "Tobi missed you both so much!" the child like man declared as he tried to embrace them, only to get kicked to the side by Kakuzu, who had a tick mark.

"Tobi, why are you here?" Kakuzu demanded.

"Well, Tobi was told to make a delivery to Hidan by the leader, so Tobi will deliver the item, because Tobi's a good boy!" With that, the masked man reached into the pocket of his robes, and pulled out a ring and tossed it to Hidan.

"What the- Who's partner was killed, because I feel sorry for the poor fool who is stuck with this loud mouth if he's promoted to a full member," Kaluzu chuckled.

"Yours."

"…What!?" Kakuzu demanded as he tried to strangle the poor reserve Akatsuki member.

"Gah, please don't kill the messenger, Tobi doesn't want to die, Tobi was just being a good boy by following orders…" Tobi managed to gasp out as Hidan tried to pull Kakuzu's hands off of Tobi's neck.

"Jeez, calm down Kakuzu, I don't think it's his fault that Jess went and got herself killed," Hidan said as Kakuzu finally released his death grip. "Though it is kind of ironic, she finally has a mission away from the guy who has tried to kill her about once every two weeks, and that's when she actually dies."

"Shut up or I will kill you," Kakuzu said.

"Please, I wish someone would finish me off already, but it just can't be done now can it?"

"Very good, everyone is present," Pain said as his and seven other holographic figures materialized on the Gedo Mazo's fingers. "You have the jinchuriki?"

"Yes," Kakuzu grunted as he tossed the unconscious Fu to the center of the cave, before he and Hidan took up their places on the statue's fingers.

"Then let us begin," Pain said. "With the ten of us, the process should take just over two days."

…..

"Have you found anything yet Kimimaro-Sensei?" Karin asked as Kimimaro searched around the area that Hidan and Kakuzu had wrecked during their hunt for the Nanabi in Takigakure.

"Yes," the elite jonin replied as he held up a crow's feather. "If we follow this trail, we should be able to catch up with the Akatsuki. We are only a day behind them, so we should be on time to interrupt whatever process they use to extract the Bijuu from its host."

"Oh yeah, can't wait to carve up a few enemies," Suigetsu cackled. "Maybe Kisame will be there, and I can take Samehada from him."

"Now's not the time to be thinking about your side goals Suigetsu," Jugo said. "The priority is Taki's jinchuriki here."

Yeah, yeah I get it, I'm just hoping that an opportunity presents itself is all," Suigetsu replied.

"We've wasted enough time," Kimimaro said. "Let's move out."

"Yes sir!" his here subordinates said in unison before following their leader along the trail of crow feathers.

…

"Wow, there sure is a lot of information on the Rinnegan's powers here," Naruto said as he and Felix perused a few scrolls of the Archivist's Domain.

"What did you expect, the Rinnegan originated in the Elder Dimension, though that ended when the Rikudou Sennin became a member of your dimension," Felix replied as he put a few scrolls in his arms. "At any rate, we need to get back to the compound if you want to get to work on using the other Paths anytime today."

"Good idea," Naruto replied as he gave the person in charge of the building the scrolls they would be borrowing to be checked out.

…

About half a day into the extraction process, a physical clone of Zetsu came into the cave. "I have news," he said to the sealing group. **"There is a team of four Konoha shinobi heading our way," **the black half stated. "If they continue their course at the rate they are headed here, they would be here in under twelve hours."

"Do we have any reserve members that can intercept them?" Pain asked. "If they get here at the time you stated, we would not even be quite halfway done with the sealing."

"Oh, Oh!" Tobi declared as he danced around. "Tobi will go, Tobi will go! Tobi will buy you the time you need to finish the sealing!"

"Do we have anyone more reliable?" Kakuzu deadpanned, causing Tobi to slump and wipe away anime tears that came from the eyehole in his mask.

"Kakuzu is a mean man, why does he have so little faith in Tobi, Tobi's a good boy…"

"We have no one else who can get there in time to slow them down," Pain sighed. "Tobi, you will go and stall the enemy as long as you can. In the meantime, we need to redouble our efforts to pull the Bijuu out faster."

"Yay, yay, yay, Tobi will stop the enemy for you, you can count on Tobi, because Tobi-,"

"Is a good boy, we get it, just get going!" Hidan, his face covered in tick marks, shouted down at the man, who dashed out of the cave so fast he almost left his shadow behind, whimpering in mock fear.

….

Team Kimimaro was still leaping from tree to tree to follow the trail Itachi's crows had left them, before Karin's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Hold on guys, someone's chakra signature has just popped up, almost as if it came out of nowhere," she said.

"Where is it?" Kimimaro asked, not slowing.

"Right-,"

"Hello, hello, how are you all doing today?" Tobi asked.

"…in front of us," Karin finished.

"Black robes with red clouds… so you are a member of the Akatsuki," Kimimaro said, never losing his composure.

"Not quite, Tobi is not a full member yet, but he will be soon, Tobi does all of his jobs, because Tobi's a good boy."

"Who the heck is Tobi?" Suigetsu asked.

"I'm Tobi!" the masked man shouted in mock hurt. "You are slow, aren't you?"

"Well how was I supposed to know you were speaking in third person?" Suigetsu demanded with a glare. "How about you just get out of our way before you get hurt!"

"Sorry, no can do, Tobi was told to stop you from going any further, so stop you Tobi will."

"Who the heck is this kook?" Karin asked with a sweat drop.

**A/N: Hope you all are fond of seeing Karin and Suigetsu get ticked off, because that will be the bulk of next chapter as they try to land a hit on Tobi. Naturally, his idiot persona will seriously rub them the wrong way.**

**I have a new poll up, the subject being who will go up against Madara near the end of the story. The choices are the five kage, Sasauke and Itachi, and Naruto. Personally, I am leaning a bit towards Sasuke and Itachi, due to the Uchiha relationship and the chance to take a step towards redeeming their clan, but I also felt that you guys should have your two cents on who gets to deal with one of canon's greatest foes put in. The poll is on my profile, so please check it out whenever you have the time!**

**I have also posted the prologue of my next story, Brothers in all but Blood, another Naruto fanfic. Do not worry, this story still takes priority over that one.**

**Please read and review, I am very interested to hear your thoughts!**


	44. Chapter 43: Akatsuki Encounter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Hope you are all interested to see a round with Tobi and Kimimaro's team. I can assure you, it will turn into quite a comedy act. Can they get past him in time to help Fu?**

**Chapter 43: Akatsuki Encounter**

**(A/N: OST Avenger plays. Note: There is more than one Naruto OST named that, the one I am using should be called OST 3 Avenger.)**

"Digital Shrapnel!" Kimimaro shouted as he shot the bones from his fingertips at Tobi, who screamed like a little girl and cowered. The bones hit… and then they phased right through the child like man, surprising Kimimaro and his team.

"What the hell!?" Suigetsu demanded as he drew the short sword that used to belong to Drakmus. "Did ya miss or something Sensei?"

_"Strange," _Kimimaro thought intently. _"I could have sworn my attack hit him, but it did nothing. It was as if he was not even there." _"Karin, what do you sense?" the Kaguya asked.

"It does not appear to be a clone or an illusion as far as I can tell," Karin replied. "So he is there, but I don't get it, is he intangible or something?"

"Well, well, the ugly chick seems to be a sensory type, Tobi is interested…" Tobi started before he sensed the killer intent coming from Karin.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Karin shouted as she charged in a blind rage, despite Kimimaro's attempts to tell her to stop. She drew her fist back and swung right at Tobi, who pretended to cower again before Karin passed right through him.

Suigetsu had taken advantage of the momentary diversion and had jumped to a tree branch right above Tobi, and jumped down at him, trying to impale him with a downward thrust of his sword, but Tobi sidestepped and kicked the swords enthusiast in the groin, only for him to get splashed in water as Suigetsu took advantage of his clan's abilities.

"Oh no, now Tobi's all wet!" the man pouted before he saw Jugo casting hand signs.

"Lightning Style: Electric Pulse!" he shouted and a burst of lightning chakra shot from Jugo's hands at Tobi, who was wet enough to increase the risk of electrocution. However, Tobi went intangible again and the water fell through him, as well as the lightning passing through. Suigetsu developed a tick mark when Tobi pretended to yawn to show he was bored.

"Seriously, it's four on one, and you can't even touch Tobi, Tobi is disappointed, he expected a decent fight out of the lot of you."

"I'll give ya a fight!" Karin shouted as she cast signs. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bomb Jutsu!" A large dragon of water bore down on Tobi, who ran away from it in a panic, before he was caught in it and thrown at a tree… which he phased through again. Jugo pulled a battleaxe out of a scroll he had sealed it in and rushed Tobi as the man rose, but Tobi ducked under it and it hit the tree.

"Ya missed Tobi, hah hah hah," Tobi taunted before a shadow appeared over his head and he looked up to see that the tree had been cut all the way through by the axe, which Jugo had conducted lightning chakra through, and was now about to fall on him.

"That is a matter of perspective," Jugo said as Tobi shrieked and covered his head as the tree crashed down.

"Did you get him?" Suigetsu asked as he and Karin landed next to Jugo and looked at the fallen lumber that was burying the man.

"I can still sense his chakra there," Karin started, before a look of shock crossed her face and she pointed in another direction, "And now it's over there!" Before they could react, a kunai with an exploding tag landed in their midst and went off… covering them with confetti.

Tobi was laughing his ass off at the angry expressions on Karin and Suigetsu's faces, and the annoyed look on Jugo's. Kimimaro meanwhile stood where he had been the entire "battle," trying to figure out any weaknesses Tobi might have. "This guy is totally messing with us," Suigetsu snarled as his grip on the sword tightened.

"Looks like the ugly chick is a little slow in warning her friends where Tobi is," Tobi giggled, causing Karin's face to get very red, rivaling the shade of her hair.

"I'M ugly?" Karin demanded. "Well, I bet you are no male model yourself, otherwise, why would you hide your face beneath a mask?"

"Oh, so you are curious to see what Tobi has under his mask?" Tobi asked. "Very well then," he said as to their surprise he took his mask off… only for a clown mask to be revealed under it.

Karin and Suigetsu face faulted as Tobi gave a laugh that would be expected to come from a clown before replacing his mask. "Oh, you are so dead!" Suigetsu shouted as he tried to charge Tobi and stab him, but he phased through again. Meanwhile, Karin rushed behind Suigetsu and tried to kick Tobi in the crotch, but he sidestepped and pulled a pair of scissors from Kami knows where, grabbed a lock of her hair and cut it off.

Karin shrieked as she felt the part of her head with the lost hair, and turned around to rush Tobi again. Holding the hair like he was swishing a blanket, Tobi sidestepped again like a matador and cried, "Ole!"

That comment was not exactly contradicted when smoke came from Karin's nostrils in her rage as she and Suigetsu rushed again from different sides, only for Tobi to jump into the air to avoid them, and they crashed into each other. The funny part was that their lips were the first thing that made contact as that happened. After the involuntary kiss, Suigetsu and Karin blushed furiously.

"Goody, goody," Tobi laughed as he read a scene from a book that looked suspiciously similar to what Jiraiya writes. "That is just like the scene on this page here, and on this next page," Tobi continued as he turned another page, completely ignoring Jugo, who swung the axe to decapitate Tobi, but was only rewarded with more frustration as it passed through again. Tobi then proceeded to read aloud a scene that would get this story either rated M or kicked off of the site altogether if it went into detail, causing the shade of red on Karin and Suigetsu's faces to go from critical to nuclear. "Yay, yay, will Tobi get to see shark boy and ugly chick do that next?"

"When I figure out how to hit you," Suigetsu began, a manifestation of a demon appearing behind him in his rage. "I am going to rip of your mask, tear out that eye, cut out your intestines, and force feed them to you while forcing you to watch with the eye I tore out!" he finished with a bellow as he charged again, but passed through.

Jugo swung the axe, but Tobi sidestepped, and moved around dodging both of his male foes until he jumped to the branch near the top of one of the taller trees in the forest, followed by Jugo and Suigetsu, who rushed again, only for Tobi to get behind them, and shout out, "Hidden Art: Double Killer Wedgies!" True to the ridiculous name, he actually gave both Jugo and Suigetsu a good deal of humiliation as he yanked on their underpants. He then proceeded to tie them together before knocking Suigetsu off of the branch, causing him to pull Jugo down with him.

Tobi made a drawn out whistling noise before leaning his head over the part of the ground they would land on and cupped his ear with one hand to exaggerate his listening ability before he shouted, "Splash!" At the exact same moment he said that, there was an actual splash, due to Sugetsu landing first, and Jugo on top of him.

"Now I am angry," Jugo growled as he got up. If it weren't for a special seal put on him a while ago by Ceilia, keeping his body from absorbing natural energy unless he consciously chose to do so, he would have already gone berserk.

"I'll say, he's making absolute fools out of us!" Suigetsu shouted in exasperation.

Karin meanwhile threw some explosive tags at the branch Tobi was standing on, causing the guy to panic before they went off, causing him to fall to the ground himself. Suigetsu and Jugo immediately attempted to eviscerate him, but they passed though him yet again.

Karin rushed forward with a kunai in hand, only for Tobi to sidestep, grab her arm with his right hand, twit it around painfully behind her, forcing her to drop the weapon, which he caught in his left hand. "Time for Tobi to stop playing around," he said as he pulled his arm back to thrust the kunai into the back of Karin's head. "Tobi is sorry he has to make a mess," he continued as his arm came down to take her life.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Karin!" Suigetsu shouted as the tip of the kunai touched her hair. It didn't get any further than that.

There was a whistling noise and one of Kimimaro's sharper bones impaled Tobi's left wrist and pinned his arm to the trunk of a tree he had been next to.

**(A/N: OST Gehika plays)**

Karin immediately took the opportunity to get free as Tobi cried out in pain. Kimimaro leapt from his vantage point to his team. "Sensei, how did you nail him?" Karin asked as she saw Tobi phase his arm though the bone and clutch his bleeding wrist, cursing. "All of our attacks he either dodged of they slipped right through him!"

"It was fairly simple," Kimimaro stated. "I was watching the three of you try to land a hit on him when I realized that he likely needed to become solid again whenever he intended to strike. Otherwise he would not have needed bother dodging before he cut off some of your hair or that stunt he pulled with your two teammates. That means he is vulnerable the moment he strikes. I am sorry I used you three as bait, but that was how I figured this man out."

"Gah, very clever," Tobi growled, his tone seeming much more serious now. _"Against a foe like that, I am not sure I can get away without taking any more injury if I continued to fight. So it looks like I should retreat for the time being." _Tobi thought in frustration before he vanished into thin air.

"What the hell?!" Karin shouted. "He's gone!"

"Great," Suigetsu moaned. "First he totally makes us look like genin fresh out of the academy when Karin and I are chunin, and Jugo is a low jonin, and then he runs like a coward."

"It's better that way," Kimimaro said. "Now we can get to the Akatsuki base with no more interruptions. We need to move fast to make up for lost time."

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

"Arrgh, why won't you move already you stupid apple?!" Naruto shouted as he extended his palm at the piece of fruit on the podium in front of him, his Rinnegan currently active. "Shinra Tensei!" he shouted, concentrating hard but only getting a slight wiggle out of the apple. Naruto growled as five seconds passed and tried again. "Shinra Tensei!" The wiggle was slightly stronger this time, but still pathetic. "Man if only I could use Shadow Clones for this, but whenever one of them or I use the Path, all the rest have to wait for the interval to end, so it's useless. Shinra Tensei!" Naruto cried again. The apple tipped onto its side.

"How the hell am I supposed to concentrate on improving my cooking when you are shouting up a- aahhhh!" Erika shouted as she came out of the kitchen, just as Naruto made a successful attempt, unfortunately sending the apple right into her face, causing the apple to burst on impact.

Naruto paled as he saw that she was currently holding her dreaded frying pan that Felix was so mortally terrified of. "Of all the times for my skill to suddenly improve," Naruto muttered darkly as a very angry Erika gripped the handle of the frying pan with both hands and raised it over her head. The blonde's screams for mercy were heard by Felix, who was busy meditating at the moment.

"Sorry Naruto," he muttered as he checked the situation with Sage Mode. "Against anyone else I would come to your aid, but Erika is the one person I would not stand a chance against," he finished with a shudder.

After Naruto was finished receiving his lesson about watching where he was sending flying objects, he left the dining room, massaging his steaming lumps, making a mental note to tell Sakura about the fact that a frying pan was more painful than a rolling pin, because he refused to be the only person in his dimension who had to worry about a significant other who knew that, even if he was not likely to get such a treatment from Hinata.

….

In Suna, a certain raven haired Konoha jonin had the sudden urge to strangle the next unfortunate blonde to walk by, and had a suspicion that one blonde in particular was plotting something evil against him.

…..

"Are you all right Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she ran into Naruto on the way to his guest quarters, taking in the bruises on his face.

"I made the mistake of using the Rinnegan's Deva Path to accidently send an apple into Erika's face as she came out of the kitchen, and she retaliated with that instrument of death," Naruto shuddered. "How is your training going by the way?"

"Well, my accuracy with the bow has improved, I am now almost as good of a shot as Mathew-Sensei, but my Hurricane Fist still needs a little more work."

"What are you talking about, that style is downright devastating."

"Well yes, but I still don't have much control over the amount of chakra I put into the attacks, and I wear down a lot faster than I want to."

"When you put it like that, it does make sense," Naruto said with his arms crossed. "It is hard to use two elements simultaneously, especially when you don't have full control over one of the elements, and I hate to say it, but your wind manipulation could still use some work. Perhaps you should refine control of that element before you focus on the Hurricane Fist, otherwise it's like trying to build something with a few missing parts. It might still be workable, but not as stable."

"B-but I already used mastered the waterfall cutting exercise, how do I improve from there?"

"Just devote some time to cutting the waterfall more often to further condition yourself to using wind chakra for now. Your control should improve the more you do it, especially if you use a few clones to speed things up a bit. Just don't expect it to work overnight. It took me ages to get the earth and fire elements down to the level you have wind at currently, and I can make a lot more clones than you."

"Thank you Naruto. That is good advice."

"I have my moments," Naruto said with a blush. "Oh, and since I just helped you with your taijutsu style, I suppose I should also give you a little help with your archery lessons as well."

"H-how do you mean to do that?" You don't know how to use a bow, no offense intended."

"Hehe, maybe not, but I still have something for you. Come into my room for a second."

Confused, Hinata walked into the room after Naruto. He opened the closet and he pulled out an empty quiver with a few seals on the interior. "So I was thinking," he began. "That if you had more of those arrows I put exploding seals on for you handy, then you might have been able to use them to shred up Caius's undead troops instead of tiring yourself out by spamming the Hariken Kaiten on them, and been able to at least beat his Chimera afterwards."

"That may be so, but I can only carry so many at a time in the quivers, and I also have to keep a few chakra conductive arrows handy when those are needed."

"Ah Hinata, you forget the wonders of fuinjutsu," Naruto grinned as he held the quiver out to Hinata, who took it. "Now place your hand towards it as if you were reaching for an arrow," he instructed. She complied and an exploding one popped out of the seal. "I designed those seals to recognize your chakra signature when it approaches," Naruto said with a grin. "If you want an exploding arrow, just move as though you were reaching for an arrow. If you want a chakra conducting arrow for either wind or water chakra, or for a Rasenken arrow, just conduct some chakra to your fingers and then do the same thing, and one of those arrows should unseal themselves. I stocked the seals with about 200 exploding arrows and 300 chakra conductive arrows already, so you should be able to give most enemies hell for a good long time before you run out. And it won't slow you down at all either since the arrows are all sealed."

"Naruto-kun, this is a wonderful gift," Hinata said as she stared at the quiver in awe. "I don't know what to say."

"How about "thank you,"" Naruto teased before Hinata embraced him without warning.

"Thank you Naruto, for always being there to help me get stronger when I need it the most," Hinata said.

"That's what friends are for, especially when said friends are engaged to each other," Naruto replied as Hinata drew back. Then their faces approached and they got lost in a kiss that lasted about half a minute. After they broke apart, Hinata suddenly had a thought.

"I'm kind of surprised Isaac did not come to ruin that for us," Hinata said as she looked around to see if said idiot was anywhere around.

"I'm not," Naruto grinned, causing Hinata to look at him in confusion. "I've already made sure to take care of him for the moment I gave you my little present, since I thought it likely we would have a moment." The grin on his face almost made Hinata pity Isaac for whatever Naruto had done. Almost.

…

"HEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPP MMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Several people in town looked up to see the well known crazy Isaac running in mortal terror from… an army of 100 human sized squirrels? **(Thank you cook563 for giving me the human sized idea.)**

A few of the townspeople watched the spectacle in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on, before most of them simply shrugged, deciding that they were probably better off not knowing, and returned to whatever they were doing, leaving the transformed Naruto clones to continue their torment of the poor triclops.

…..

The sealing of the Nanabi was about halfway done when Zetsu appeared and the black half started, **"Tobi has failed to slow the enemy down a significant amount." **"The enemy will be here in about an hour, and we have no other means of slowing them," the white half continued. **"What do you want to do, Leader-Sama?"**

"We continue sealing as much of the Bijuu's chakra as we can until the enemy arrives," Pain replied. "After that, Hidan and Kakuzu, you are to ambush them, though that will slow the remainder of the process. Hopefully, you will kill the approaching team, since it is unlikely the fight will last an entire day, so be sure to finish them off, or we will likely fail to finish sealing the Bijuu."

"Sweet, four more sacrifices for Jashin-Sama," Hidan giggled sadistically.

…

True to what Zetsu said, Team Kimimaro was rapidly approaching their objective after about an hour. "They're right up ahead," Karin informed them. There are eleven chakra signatures ahead of us, one of them massive but slowly weakening, as if chakra is being drained, so I am guessing that is the jinchuriki we are to rescue. Eight of them seem to be a little fuzzy but the other two… it's a little hard to describe, it's like one of them has a chakra signature that wouldn't go out, and one of them seems to have five different chakras in one body. And those two are heading right for us now!"

Sure enough, a three bladed red scythe attached to a thick cable shot from the trees, only to be blocked by Kimimaro, followed by a few blasts of lightning and fire chakra, causing the team to separate to dodge, Karin and Suigetsu going to the left, and Kimimaro and Jugo to the right. The latter two were followed by whatever was sending the fire and lightning at them.

Suigetsu ducked under another attempt form the scythe, and Karin threw a few kunai and shuriken into the bushes, and was rewarded by a cry of, "Ouch! Man that hurts!"

**(A/N: OST Koen plays)**

Hidan stepped from the bushes, shocking Karin and Suigetsu when they saw that one of the kunai was embedded between his eyes, deep enough that it should have killed, another was in his throat, and a few shuriken were in various other spots, a few of them vital. "So who do you think you guys are anyway?" Hidan asked as he casually removed the offending projectiles, spilling his blood all over the ground. He stepped on one of the puddles and started to shift his foot to draw a design on the ground.

"What the hell?" Karin said as Hidan finished with that, the design looking like a circle with a triangle in the interior of it. "You should have died from those!"

"Yeah well obviously I didn't, so shut yer yaps, and let me sacrifice you to Jashin-Sama!" Hidan shouted as he rushed Karin, who backed up in time to avoid a swing from Hidan's scythe, but would have been impaled by his follow up attack from his retractable spear if Suigetsu had not jumped between him and her and impaled Hidan through the heart at the same time Hidan impaled him through the gut.

Of course, neither was particularly bothered by this, because of Hidan's immortality, and Suigetsu's ability to turn into water. "Oh, so you're a member of the Hozuki clan then?" Hidan asked interestedly. "Shame for you," he continued as he licked the water off of his spear. "That the water you turn into still contains DNA I can use," he finished and Suigetsu and Karin stared in shock as his skin changed to a black color with bone white skeleton designs on it, giving him a Grim Reaper appearance. "And I know from past experience that your Kekei Genkai fails to protect you from my abilities," Hidan stated as he walked backwards.

"How are you still alive?" Suigetsu demanded as he stared at the wound he had given Hidan. "I know I got you through the heart there!"

Hidan ignored Suigetsu as he stepped into the circle. "The preparations are complete…" he said before he laughed sadistically. "Now, shall we partake in the ultimate suffering together?"

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: I hope that the chapter was enjoyable for all of you. I bet at least a few of my readers were highly amused by Tobi's antics. Just to let you know, he won't completely shed the child persona yet, he still has an image to maintain for a while, and yes, he will be paired with Deidara again, that's just too much humor to pass up. Don't worry, I will use a few new jokes rather than revisit the old ones.**

**Next chapter will obviously continue the battle between Team Kimimaro and the Immortal Tag Team. Please review this one so I am motivated to post the next one sooner!**


	45. Chapter 44: The Immortal Duo

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Good feedback I am getting from most of my reviewers, though due to a few reviews, I have decided to reduce the amount of times the Rasengan is used by characters other than Naruto, though I will still have Hinata use her Rasenken version, as well as Sasuke's Rasenlance, because that one is way too awesome in my book to let go of, and obviously Minato and Jiraiya will use it often. The reason I had the immediate family of Felix know it was because it is a jutsu that would be very good for a person who can use all five elements to know. But yes, I do see it as a bit overused now, so I will only have a few other situations from here that Felix will use it.**

**As for my poll on the battle with Madara, I got ten votes on Sasuke and Itachi being the ones who get to do the honors, and Naruto has 3. The five kage are being ignored for some reason, but if they aren't chosen, I'll have something else for them. Keep the votes coming, I will close the poll sometime this weekend.**

**So without further ado, let's find out whether Kimimaro's team can save Fu, or themselves for that matter.**

**Chapter 44: The Immortal Duo**

**(A/N: OST Kouen plays)**

"No thanks buddy!" Suigetsu replied to Hidan's insane proposal and Karin immediately threw a kunai at Hidan, which caught him in the left shoulder. And then blood spurted from Suigetsu's left shoulder. "Gah, what the hell!?" he shouted as he backed up clutching the wound.

Hidan cackled as Karin shouted, "Suigetsu!" She immediately ran up to her comrade, who tried to turn his shoulder to water, but when it reformed, his wound was still there.

"How did he-,"

"Simple, boy," Hidan stated. "Your abilities don't heal your wounds, they can only prevent them. But just like any other defense," he said as he raised his retractable spear and impaled his own foot with it. At that, Suigetsu's eyes widened and he clutched his foot as the exact same wound appeared on it. "There is always a thing or two that can bypass it. You see kid, our bodies have been linked as a part of my curse, and anything that happens to my body, happens to yours as well, regardless of any differences. And the best part is, I can't die, but you can. But I will torture you a little first." Hidan stabbed his own right hand through after setting his scythe down, causing another scream from Suigetsu.

"But even if you can't die," Karin stated. "Aren't you torturing yourself too?" Hidan began laughing at this.

"Here's a little something for you to think about. For me, when the agony of someone's pain I share through this curse seeps into my body, the pain is transcended and turns into absolute ecstasy!"

_"This guy… he is totally sick minded," _Karin thought desperately. _"I have to find a way to stop his jutsu before he cripples Suigetsu, or worse, kills him, but how? Think Karin, think, there has to be a weak point to the jutsu, but what?" _She was threatening to panic as she saw Hidan pierce his thigh, but she forced herself to stay calm and pay close attention to her surroundings for something, anything to go on, before her eyes fell on the circle Hidan was standing in. "_Wait, that circle he is standing on, is that a part of the curse?" _she thought, adjusting her glasses in her thoughts as Hidan put a gash in his left bicep. _"He did say something about preparations, and he did go straight for the circle once his body took on that nightmarish appearance after he took that DNA he also mentioned from Suigetsu. So does he need to be standing in it to make his jutsu work? Only one way to find out!"_

"Time to finish it? Ready to be put out of your misery kid?" Hidan asked as he raised his weapon to impale his heart.

_"No, please no!" _Karin shouted in her mind as she finished casting signs, praying to any deity that would listen, even Jashin if he would help her, that she would not be too late. "Water Style: Water Pressure Blast!" A high pressure blast of water came from her mouth and struck against Hidan with enough force to topple a rhinoceros as she tried to blast Hidan out of his circle. But once the stream ended, to Karin's horror, Hidan was still standing and laughing at her.

"Stupid girl, do ya really think you are the first to have cottoned on to my secrets?" he taunted. "I have had several desperate foes try to force me out of this circle before, so I simply stick my feet to the ground with my chakra, to make certain that you can't force me out of it. So now your boyfriend dies!" he declared as he plunged the weapon into his heart.

"No!" Karin shrieked, and Suigetsu clutched at his chest.

…

Meanwhile, Kimimaro and Jugo emerged from the forest with two black monsters wearing masks behind them. It was then that a hand grabbed Kimimaro's ankle and slammed him into the ground. "You four have been a thorn in our side," the hand's owner, Kakuzu said as the tendrils that kept the limb attached to him pulled it back to his side. "So it is time to make sure you never bother us again. Besides, I recognize you from the bingo books, Kimimaro Kaguya. You have a bounty of 33 million ryo, which I intend to collect from you." Two more of the creatures that had pursued Kimimaro and Jugo stepped behind their master to offer support, while the ones that had pursued them were still behind them, one mask preparing to launch another fireball and the other charging lightning up.

"Jugo, move!" Kimimaro ordered, and they both dived in opposite directions to avoid the attacks. The two other masks immediately converged on a target, the earth beast going for Kimimaro, and the wind for Jugo. The earth beast fired a clod of mud at the Kaguya, while Jugo was trying to avoid several shots of wind. _"Interesting,"_ Kimimaro thought._ "Each of these beasts seems to use a single element, so there may be a water using one somewhere. What are they anyway? Are they some kind of personal summons? If so, then there is little point in attacking them. I should fight the main foe first." _Kimimaro dived around one of the masked beasts, and pointed his fingers at Kakuzu. "Digital Shrapnel!" he shouted as the bones were fired from his fingertips.

Kakuzu did not even bother to dodge the attack as he cast a few signs, activating his jutsu that hardened his skin. The bone fragments shredded his robes where they hit, but failed to do any damage to Kakuzu himself. Kimimaro frowned before he took a hit from the fire style mask in the back. The blast would have been fatal if it weren't for the shell of bone he put on his back, though the back of his shirt got burned off. He immediately formed a sharp bone and severed few tendrils that Kakuzu sent his way, but more came at him.

Jugo leapt to his friend's side and severed a few more tendrils before they could wrap around Kimimaro, and the Kaguya tried to rush Kakuzu, who sent even more tendrils as he jumped back. Kimimaro deftly dodged the tendrils but was intercepted by the wind style mask, which hit him with one of its arms and knocked him back. He landed next to Jugo with his eyes narrowed and one hand on the ground. "Jugo, between those masks and the tendrils he is using, we can't even get close enough to attack him," he told his berserker comrade. "I need you to help me get to him by a boost I need you to give me."

"Trying to formulate a strategy against me won't save you," Kakuzu told his to foes. "I have been around for too long to fall for any trick you may have to defeat me. In fact, I faced the same man who created the same headbands you both wear around your necks, the Shodaime Hokage."

Kimimaro's eyes widened. "Just how old are you?"

"In a nutshell, I have found a method of extending my natural lifespan. So, I have so much more combat experience than you upstarts could ever hope to achieve."

"Then I suppose the trap I set behind you is not going to work, is it?" Kimimaro asked smugly, to which Kakuzu snorted.

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for that tired old blu-," BOOM! Unbeknownst to Kakuzu, while they had been talking, Kimimaro had his hands on the ground and slid one of his bones under it with an exploding tag on it. He was then able to further extend the bone to the ground beneath the old Taki nin's feet before it came out of the ground behind Kakuzu with the timed tag just about to go off.

Naturally, the blast was not enough to harm Kakuzu, but it did disorient him enough to give Kimimaro a chance to run forward at the Akatsuki member, forming the "flower" of his Clematis Dance. Even with the diversion however, Kakuzu was still able to send tendrils at Kimimaro, forcing him to dodge them, and he was not fast enough to get to Kakuzu before two of the masked beasts could come between him and his target.

Keyword: Was. Jugo formed several seals and shouted, "Lightning Style: Thunder Blast!" Jugo fired a burst of lightning even stronger and faster than the one he had used against Tobi during the brief battle earlier, which surprisingly hit Kimimaro in his back, which was protected by the shell of bone he formed. The impact threw Kimimaro forward between the two masks at Kakuzu, and the Kaguya was able to impale the former Taki nin through the chest.

"So much for you," Kimimaro said as Kakuzu died instantly. Thinking that his and Jugo's battle was over, Kimimaro turned to head for Karin and Suigetsu's only to be slammed aside by the lightning style mask as it returned to the side of its master. "How come you haven't disappeared if your summoner is dead?" Kimimaro demanded before he saw the tendrils the creature was made of flow through the hole in Kakuzu's chest, the mask shattering, and to the Kaguya's shock, Kakuzu rose from the dead.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

Hidan was laughing maniacally at the slumped form of Suigetsu. "Now it's your turn girlie," Hidan said to the sobbing Karin as he reached for his scythe. But then Suigetsu suddenly got up, picked up his sword, rushed at Hidan and threw a shuriken at him, which caught him in the throat, shocking him and causing him to stagger backwards and feebly raise his right hand to block the blade, and Suigetsu cut it off.

**(A/N: OST Turn Over plays)**

"Suigetsu, you're alright!" Karin shouted in relief as Suigetsu jumped back to avoid a thrust from Hidan's spear.

"What in the name of Jashin just happened?" Hidan demanded as he stared at the stump of his arm.

"Isn't it obvious? I just cut off your hand," Suigetsu joked, causing Hidan to snarl.

"Of course it's obvious you bastard! What I meant was, why are you not dead from my curse, and for that matter, why is your own hand still attached?"

"Easy, Karin's intention to get you out of that circle was not successful, but it did do the job in a different way," Suigetsu said as he shouldered his blade and pointed at the ground. Hidan looked in the direction Suigetsu pointed and his eyes widened as he saw that his circle was not much more than a bloody smear on the ground now. "When Karin blasted you with the water jutsu, it failed to knock you from the circle," Suigetsu said. "But the ground here was loose enough for the water to ruin your little circle, making it useless for your little voodoo doll jutsu. That's why your jab through your own heart did not affect me the way it was intended to, and I played along with the curse once I realized I was not harmed by it. Good job by the way Karin," he said to her.

"I just wish I could say I planned that," she replied, though she was smiling.

"Aw whatever," Hidan growled. "All I have to do is make another circle, then I can reestablish the cur-," Hidan started to draw the design again with his foot and the blood that was flowing from his wrist, but Suigetsu rushed forward, pumping some water into his legs to add enough strength to move faster than Hidan could have anticipated with the foot and thigh wounds to account for, and cut off Hidan's head.

"Sorry pal, I wasn't gonna let you do that," the Hozuki said as Hidan's body went down like a ton of bricks.

"Damn you! Do you have any idea how much this hurts!?" Hidan's head shouted from the ground, causing Suigetsu to give a small jump of surprise before his eyes narrowed and he kneeled over the severed head. "Okay, just what does it take to kill you if **that** didn't work?"

Karin looked a little sick at the thought of a person living through decapitation as the head laughed. "Sorry, killing me is just not doable," Hidan sneered.

"Fine then, but it's clear that you are currently useless in your state," Karin said.

"Shut up, you little hag, I can still chew ya to d- gurgh!" the last part came out as Karin stomped on the head, a tick mark developing. "Never use the "H" word towards me again," she advised.

"I'm sick of listening to this guy's foul mouth myself," Suigetsu said as he picked up the cussing head by the hair. "Ever play a game of soccer, Mr. Immortal?"

"What the hell does that have to do with- SHIT!" Hidan shouted as Suigetsu tossed the head up, pumped some water into his right leg to add some muscle mass and kicked the head with all his might. The screaming head of Hidan sailed quite far indeed.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Well, let's make sure that anyone who wants to piece this guy back together has quite a time doing so," Suigetsu said as he headed towards Hidan's body before his adrenaline wore off and the pain of his wounds caught up with him.

He fell to his knees, wincing and Karin shouted, "Suigetsu!" She ran to his side as he tried to rise, and she pulled up the sleeve of her cloak, and put her wrist in front of Suigetsu's face. Her arm used to be covered with bite marks, but fortunately, Tsunade had found a way to remove the once permanent marks.

"I'm fine!" the Hozuki protested, only to get smacked through the head by Karin.

"Like hell you are! Just bite me so I don't have to carry you!" Suigetsu reformed his head and sighed as he complied. After he was healed, they got to the grim task of chopping up Hidan's body to make sure it would not be easy to reassemble him. They threw a lot of the pieces in many different directions, Suigetsu adding some distance with his ability to pump his arms up. The rest they buried in various locations, making use of Suigetsu's water clones to take them far to be buried.

"That will have to do," Suigetsu said as he tossed the last piece away. "He won't die, which is a pain, but I bet he wishes he was dead right about now. We better go help Kimimaro and Jugo." He paused as his eyes fell upon the scythe Hidan had dropped. He picked it up and gave an experimental swing. "Hmmm, this is an interesting weapon. Might as well take it as a trophy, I may have a use for it if I ever need to extend my reach a bit."

….

**(A/N: OST Stalemate plays)**

Kimimaro and Jugo were frantically avoiding Kakuzu's attacks as the immortal made attempts to claim the latter's heart, after Kimimaro had destroyed the first, putting Kakuzu in need of a replacement for his lightning style mask's heart. Kakuzu had already explained how he had extended his lifespan by stealing the hearts of others for the past century, so Kimimaro already knew that he was going to have to kill Kakuzu four more times, unless he broke the masks before they revived him.

The wind style mask approached and gathered chakra for a wind blast at Kimimaro. That was when the Kaguya started to counterattack, the curse mark on his chest glowing orange and spreading over his body in the lined design. "Ah, I had almost forgotten that you were one of Orochimaru's more talented subordinates," Kakuzu said casually.

Kimimaro's eyes narrowed before he said flatly, "Never say that name in my presence again." Over the past two years of his life in Konoha, he had been able to make true friends, comrades he had come to care for. As a result, he was able to see exactly what the difference between true happiness and his life with Orochimaru was, and he realized just how hollow his life had still been after being taken in by the snake Sannin. So his former worship for Orochimaru had turned into complete disgust.

The wind mask fired at Kimimaro and he ran through four hand seals. "Fire Style: Blazing Clematis Flower!" The flames shaped exactly how they were described shot out of Kimimaro's mouth, powered slightly by his curse seal, and collided with the wind fired by the mask. It seemed the Kimimaro's jutsu was going to win out at first due to his elemental advantage and the fact that his jutsu was a little stronger to begin with, but before the flames could destroy the mask, the fire style mask joined the wind one and they combined their jutsus, ultimately overpowering Kimimaro's jutsu. Kimimaro was hit by the fanned wall of flames, and would have been cooked alive if it had not been for the shell of bones he managed to make to shield him from the worst of the flames. As it was, he still got several second and first degree burns on his torso and was blasted back.

The earth mask fired several shots of mud at him, which impacted hard enough to keep him off balance, and Jugo immediately tried to rush to the aid of his friend, but was halted by Kakuzu, who was using several more of his tendrils in an attempt to subdue the berserker. Jugo was able to sever a few with his axe, but he got caught by several others, which held his arms and legs away from his body and more began to burrow their way into his chest to take his heart.

Jugo closed his eyes before he realized he had no choice but to go berserk, and he mentally stopped the seal from keeping the natural energy out of his body. His flesh changed to its bestial form, and Kakuzu's eyes widened as he was suddenly faced with several chakra cannons. "Hehahahaha, DIE ALREADY!" Jugo shouted as he gleefully fired point blank at his enemy, who leapt back in a panic and was just barely able to raise a protective shield of his tendrils before he was blasted full force.

He was thrown hard against a tree and lay prone against the ground. "YES! YES! HE'S DEAD! HAHAHA!" Jugo was cackling before he got engulfed in flames from the wind and fire style masks, which had joined bodies. Kakuzu rose a little gingerly as he saw a smoking and heavily burned Jugo rush out of the inferno. Kimimaro was still fighting the earth mask, which was keeping its distance from his spines and firing an increasing number of mud balls. Kimimaro formed several spines from his bones and flung them at the mask, but the mask avoided them all.

Cursing as he saw Jugo's predicament, Kimimaro activated his curse seal again, entering Second State. **(A/N: Despite the modifications Ceilia made to the seal, Kimimaro looks the same in his Second State as he did before. If you ask me, his appearance was not nearly as screwed up as Sasuke's was.) **He dived under several more clods of stone and mud and slid between the legs of the masked beast, and ran straight for Jugo, who was currently taking more wind enhanced fireballs to his body, not even being given a chance to recover and retaliate, before his berserk state finally receded and he collapsed.

"Now, your heart is mine," Kakuzu said as once again, his tendrils were sent to burrow their way into Jugo's chest. Before he could finish, he sensed danger and was forced to jump back to avoid Kimimaro's bone sword thrust. "Don't you ever know when to quit!?" Kakuzu demanded as Kimimaro threw the bone sword, catching Kakuzu in the shoulder.

"Dance of the Clematis," Kimimaro said as he ripped out his spine and formed the bone lance with his other hand. "The Vine!" he shouted, swinging the spinal column at Kukuzu, who got his arms pinned to his sides before the Kaguya slammed him to the ground. "Now, the Flower!" Kimimaro shouted, dashing at Kakuzu. Before he could reach his target, the fire and wind mask's body leapt between Kimimaro and Kakuzu, and prepared to blast him.

Kimimaro hastily reabsorbed the lance and let go of his spine and cast seals. "Fire Style: Blazing Clematis Flower!" Once again, he fired his jutsu to battle against the collaborative mask jutsu, only this time, Kimimaro was in his Second State, so his fire jutsu was a lot stronger this time. So once the two attcks met, it seemed to be a stalemate at first, before Kimimaro's jutsu began to gain ground. Before he could defeat the two masks however, he was hit in the side by yet another clod of earth, knocking him away. Before he could recover, Kakuzu's tendrils wrapped around his waist and he was lifted into the air as Kukuzu jumped up, and then the immortal threw Kimimaro hard into the ground, making a large crater.

Though Kimimaro was mostly unharmed by this, Kakuzu's masks had a remedy for that. All three of them leapt into the air above Kimimaro and the earth mask fired off several earth balls, which were followed up by the fire and wind masks launching their collaborative attack, igniting the earth clods before they slammed into the stunned elite jonin.

"Kimimaro!" Jugo shouted as he watched the inferno consume the area his friend was in. Though the bones Kimimaro could create offered a great deal of defense against external injury, they would do little to prevent the heat from burning Kimimaro to death.

**(A/N: End OST)**

Kakuzu chortled as he walked up to the weakened berserker. "Shame, he was actually quite a challenge. Oh well, hopefully his corpse will still be recognizable enough to collect the bounty. And now this time, we should have no interruptions," Kakuzu finished as his tendrils once more crept towards Jugo, who tried to back away, but he was caught quickly. "Good, I will soon have my full repertoire again."

"Bracken Dance!" a voice from beneath their feet shouted, surprising Kakuzu, before a multitude of bone spikes erupted from the ground, all of them missing Jugo, but one impaled Kakuzu through his current heart, and he never got the chance to get a replacement, for his masked beasts were also in the area of effect, each one getting impaled multiple times before the hearts within took a hit that forever stopped their beating.

**(A/N: OST Nankou Furaku plays)**

"How…" Kakuzu demanded weakly as Kimimaro emerged from the ground. "How did you survive the fire?"

"I never was hit by it," Kimimaro replied before pointing at the crater Kakuzu's masks had fired at. Inside, there was a seeming replica of Kimimaro, though severely charred, and cracked in several areas, and hollow. "When you caught me in your tendrils, I realized that every time I tried to attack you or one of your masks, I would always get interrupted by another. So in addition to taking steps to avoid your attack, I quickly formulated a plan. I created a thin shell of bone that looked almost exactly like me in the front, but missing the back part. When I was slammed into the ground, I tunneled beneath it, leaving the shell behind to fool you into thinking I was still there, and the shell was what took your attack. And then I used my ultimate jutsu, the Bracken Dance, which you can see all around you. The idea was to attack you and all of your remaining masks at once, so they would not be able to cover each other or you."

"I… can't believe it… Four of my hearts… in one attack? I… can't die here… I have… lived too long… for my life to have been ended… by the likes of you…"

"You have lived long enough by taking away the lives of others," Kimimaro said, his expression hardening. "People like you remind me of the monster I was once blind enough to serve, even to the extent of giving up my own life just to prolong his worthless one. It is only thanks to a few shinobi of the Hidden Leaf and Jugo, that I was able to open my eyes and see what was really worth protecting and fighting for."

"Curse… you…" Kakuzu said, before his body went completely limp. Kimimaro sighed as his curse seal receded.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Jugo, are you alright?" Kimimaro asked as he rushed over to his friend and helped him to his feet.

"I'll live," Jugo said. "What about Suigetsu and Karin?"

"I don't know, but we had better make sure they aren't in more trouble than they can handle," Kimimaro said, slinging one of Jugo's arms around his neck and shoulder before leaping in the direction the team had separated.

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the fight scenes against Hidan and Kakuzu. Next chapter will be more Akari and Naruto centric, I promise. **

**So please keep reviewing, that is what motivates me to update as often as I do!**


	46. Chapter 45: Change of Plans

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Yes, I have now hit 300 favorites, can't wait for 400! My reviews are also increasing in leaps and bounds, keep it up, and I will have no need to hold the next chapter hostage!**

**The recovery of Fu finishes in this chapter, and we will soon get a preview on just how much of a badass Gaara will become soon, hehe…**

**Chapter 45: Change of Plans**

Just as Kimimaro reached the edge of the forest, Karin and Suigetsu exited the trees, Suigetsu toting the scythe that had been used to attack them earlier, though Kimimaro had never seen the attacker. "You guys alright?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yes we are fine, our opponent was killed by me, though as you can see, Jugo is a little weak," Kimimaro replied before he explained about Kakuzu's abilities and the fight he and Jugo had with him while Karin healed Jugo with her special ability. "It ended when I destroyed his four remaining hearts with my Bracken Dance," Kimimaro finished.

…..

Naruto sneezed as he tried to use Deva Path again. "Strange… why did the words, "eat your heart out," just go through my mind?" He ultimately shrugged before he extended his hand at the training dummy again. "Shinra Tensei!" The dummy wobbled before it fell on its side. "Gah, how am I supposed to repel attacks with this Path, if I can't even knock a human sized object back a few feet?! Maybe I should practice the other Paths a bit before I work on the strongest one…"

…

"Yeah well, we fought a retard who wouldn't freaking die," Suigetsu said after Kimimaro finished his explanation and Jugo was back on his feet. "Tried a lot of things, I stabbed him through the heart, and ended the fight by decapitating him, which kept his body from moving, but he still lived through it. We had to dismember his body and scatter the pieces as much as we could, so he won't be a problem anymore, at least for a while. What was really annoying about him was that all he needed was an enemy's DNA, which he clearly usually gets from blood, and then he can put some kinda curse on them where his body was like a voodoo doll. Any injuries that were done to him would be done to whoever he cursed, and it even bypassed my ability to turn into water."

Kimimaro's eyebrows rose. "If that is the case, and you dismembered him, then how…"

"I broke the curse," Karin said a little proudly. "He also needed to be standing in a diagram he draws on the ground with his own blood, and he was even clever enough to stick his feet to the ground with chakra, so any attempts to knock him out of it were useless. But I was smart enough to- OUCH!"

"Don't ya try to boast," Suigetsu, who had just bonked her on the head, told her. "You initially tried to just blast him out of it with that water style jutsu I taught you, you had no strategy beyond that whatsoever. It was sheer luck that the water washed away enough of the diagram to break the curse, you didn't plan that!"

"Well it saved your ungrateful ass, didn't it? The least you could do is let me impress Sensei a little!"

"Please, you already owed me for stopping the guy from impaling you with the spear of his, all you did was return the favor!"

"Yeah, well I did heal you!"

"It was because I stopped his attack that he got my DNA and I got injured in the first place, so once again, we're ev-." He did not get any further as Kimimaro grabbed both of their heads, and smacked them together, causing Karin to splutter as her hair got wet as a result.

"Are you two quite done with your lover's spat?" the Kaguya demanded, causing both of them to turn an undocumented shade of red. "So, where is the head of your foe?"

"I kicked it away about ten miles, why?" Suigetsu replied, causing Kimimaro to face palm.

"You really didn't think to take that part along with you? We could have interrogated him that way, and there would have been less chance of him being pieced back together, and yet you blew it?!" Kimimaro demanded, showing a rare flash of irritation, and Suigetsu paled.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" the Hozuki muttered, banging his head against a tree with each word. Kimimaro sighed.

"What's done is done I suppose. What we need to do now is get to the jinchuriki before the extraction process Hokage-Sama mentioned is complete. Karin."

"That way," she said, pointing.

…

Pain's eyes narrowed as the team of four entered the cave where the Gedo Mezo was still sucking the Nanabi's chakra out of Fu, who was suspended in midair. "So, I take it you are the Akatsuki," Kimimaro said as he looked disdainfully at the eight figures on the statue's fingers. "We are taking the girl, and since none of you are actually here, I don't see how you can stop us."

Pain mentally cursed. They had only managed to extract about two thirds of the Nanabi's chakra, and they also had yet to gain the consciousness of the Bijuu from Fu. But maybe he could still prevent the loss… "I would not recommend it," Pain said. "If you interrupt the process, you will cause all that we have removed so far to go off and destroy everything within a six mile radius."

Kimimaro frowned, but Karin interjected. "He's bluffing. Even though he is not really there, I can still sense when he is lying, so my guess is he is trying to scare us into not stopping them."

Pain cursed again. "So it seems that you have a decent sensory type with you. Well played. Very well then, take the container, who knows, she might even live." With that, the statue disappeared and the figures with it. But not before one who appeared to be heavily armored looked at Kimimaro, showing the Kaguya a set of Sharingan, three tomoe in each eye. Kimimaro's eyes widened in shock once the figure was gone. Fu fell to the ground limply.

"Was that a member of the Uchiha clan?" Kimimaro asked, as Karin dashed forward and checked the girl's vital signs before she put her wrist in Fu's mouth and forced the jaws to close on it.

After a few minutes, Fu's eyes opened, and she looked weakly at her saviors. "Who are you?" she asked them.

"Shinobi of Konoha," Kimimaro replied as Karin made Fu bite her again. "We are here to take you back to Takigakure."

"Thank you," Fu said as she finished having her energy restored. She got to her feet.

**"I told you I was Lucky Seven!" **Chomei declared within the mint hair.

_"Oh shut up Nanabi," _Fu mentally snapped, following Team Kimimaro out of the cave. "I'm Fu by the way, who are you guys?"

"I'm Karin Uzumaki."

"Jugo of the Scales."

"Suigetsu Hozuki."

"And I'm the leader of this sorry lot with the exception of Jugo (HEY!), Kimimaro Kaguya. We should get going, before any more members of the Akatsuki can be sent against us."

"Come on, I used my Heal Bite three times today, can't I rest a little first?" Karin whined as she plopped down.

"Fine you may rest," Kimimaro replied, and Karin sighed with relief. "Suigetsu, carry her, we are leaving now."

"WHAT!?" both Karin and Suigetsu protested.

"It is imperative that we get Fu back to Taki as soon as possible. We cannot allow ourselves to give our enemies a chance to assault us."

Suigetsu and Karin both sighed in defeat and Suigetsu slung one of Karin's arms around his neck and shoulder. Before they could get going however, a crow flew up to Kimimaro and gave him a scroll. His eyes narrowed as he read the contents and turned to the team, his expression only betraying a hint of what he suddenly felt: Rage. "Change of plans. We are to take Fu straight back to Konoha."

"What?! Why, am I to be a prisoner or something?" Fu demanded.

"No nothing like that. Takigakure's leaders have made the decision that their village no longer will harbor a "demon" with the threat of the Akatsuki bearing down on them for it, and they have sent a request to Hokage-Sama to have Fu killed on sight by us. Naturally, he refused, and thus our orders are to bring her to Konoha instead of Taki."

**(A/N: OST Loneliness plays. Note: Another Naruto OST that shares its name with another. Feel free to take your pick.)**

"Those bastards…" Fu trembled as she read the scroll herself. "I tried so hard to be someone they could like, someone they could acknowledge, but all I was to them my whole life was a weapon, one who has become too inconvenient to keep around... Why me? I didn't ask for this!"

Kimimaro looked at Fu with pity in his gaze. He remembered being locked in a cage his whole childhood by the members of his clan without knowing why, having done nothing to deserve such a fate, before the clan was butchered by Kiri, and he was set adrift in a the world, lost without a purpose. He was then seemingly saved by Orochimaru, but he knew full well now that he himself was nothing more than a tool to the snake, one that had been shunted to the side the moment he became too ill to be of use.

"You bear a heavy burden," Kimimaro finally said. "But your life will be better once we get to-,"

"Just be quiet please!" Fu almost shouted, tearing up. "You don't know a thing! I never once had a chance at happiness, why should your village be any different? So don't act like you understand me! I will go with you, but only because I have nowhere else to go to!" With that, she leapt to the top of a tree branch and headed towards the Hidden Leaf.

"Jeez, what's her problem?" Suigetsu asked, before Kimimaro held a bone blade to the Hozuki's neck.

"Don't start," the white haired man warned. "She has gone through more than you realize, so if you belittle her suffering, you will feel my wrath."

Suigetsu gulped. Though he could turn into water to avoid injury, Kimimaro was just plain scary whne angered, even when he seemed calm.

**(End OST)**

…..

"Well, well, fancy meeting you here Hidan, weren't you just near Takigakure to prevent the Nanabi's recovery? But I guess I would know that you and Kakuzu failed, after all, Kisame and I just left the container with the team sent to retrieve it," Kabuto chuckled, somewhere outside the land of Earth, where Kabuto and Kisame had been sent to wait for an opportunity to take either of Iwa's jinchuriki.

"Oh just shut up and get me down already you asshole," Hidan snarled, his head hanging by the hair on a tree branch it had become ensnared in. "And while you're at it, why don't you summon some of those zombies of yours that are sensory types to find the rest of my pieces for me?"

"Tsk tsk, that is no way to ask a favor, but if you insist," Kabuto said as he summoned one of his Edo Tensei, a heavyset man wearing shades and a Kiri headband. "Go find the rest of this guy's body for me," he ordered and the man left.

"Just one?" Hidan protested. "That's going to take forever!"

"That's what you get for being rude. Perhaps if you said please, I would summon some more on it."

"Screw you…"

"Sigh… so predictable."

…..

"Wow, who knew that Suna sold weapons like this, where do they get the materials?" Daisuke asked as he examined a katana with chakra conducting metal of high quality and edged in diamond.

"Gaara-Sensei is the reason for that," Matsuri, a Suna genin who had been given the D-rank of showing Sasuke and his team around the village. "In addition to his duties as one of the villages greatest jonin, his father, the Kazekage has also given the task of using his sand to find all of the best metals and other valuable things such as gold and the diamond you see on that blade. It has really helped our village's economy, so Gaara-Sensei actually has some admiration in the village now. I'm quite happy for him," Matsuri said. It was quite clear that she had feelings for her teacher.

"You should just give up on that weapon Daisuke, I bet you can't afford it," Akari said and Daisuke sighed and replaced the tool.

"I would kill for such an awesome weapon though," he whined.

"It's not as cool as what Gaara wields now, trust me," Matsuri said.

"Oh and what would that be?" Sasuke asked with interest. "I actually know Gaara quite well, and I never knew he wielded a weapon."

"That's secret, sorry," Matsuri said with a smile. "But a single swing of it has demolished a good portion of one of our training grounds once."

"I might buy one or two of these," Kiyoshi mused as he looked at a few small crossbow bolts tipped in diamond. Kiyoshi's main weapon was a one handed crossbow that could hold two quarrels at once, and he could also poison the tips. "I actually save my mission pay after all, and these are not nearly as expensive as that katana, so I think I can afford to invest in serious life or death situations."

Sasuke meanwhile was still wondering about the weapon Matsuri mentioned Gaara used. Part of the reason Sasuke had brought the team to Suna so early was to answer a request from the Ichibi's jinchuriki to help test out a new "ultimate offense and defense." Sasuke was curious to find out why Gaara wanted to use him as a guinea pig for that.

"At any rate, it's thanks to Gaara the village is back on track with some decent finances, and the Kazekage has opened a few new academies with some of the money raised as a result of Gaara's efforts," Matsuri said proudly. "It's funny though," she continued. "It seems as though the training is more intense and number of shinobi candidates has increased a rather high number. It's almost as if the Kazekage is preparing the village for some kind of war…"

_"Not exactly hard to figure that one out, since the Kazekage has been made aware of just how much of a threat the Akatsuki are," _Sasuke thought.

…..

"Get your guard up!" Vanessa told the trainee in front of her as she swung again, and the young Yoshoryuu was just barely able to block. "Better!"

"Vanessa!" Naruto shouted as he ran into the private training room. "Do you know where Felix is?" he asked somewhat frantically.

"He should be sparring with Mathew in the AOS room, why?" Vanessa asked, noticing how flustered Naruto seemed to be.

"One of my shadow Clones was just studying something about the Rikudou Sennin while I was practicing the Deva Path, and it came across something that it dispelled immediately to let me know about," Naruto said. "I need to tell Felix that I found Raizen's name!"

**A/N: A little short I know, but I have been busy with work and had some inconvenient hours that made it hard to use the library, and I wanted to get this posted soon. **

**Bet you were not expecting that thing with the Rikudou Sennin to be a part of Raizen's backstory, eh? So next chapter, the Elder Dimension Council will decide to send a bit of back up to Naruto's dimension, now that they know who where they heard of Raizen before, even if they are skeptical at best that this is the same Raizen. There will be another OC from the Chihanshu clan as a result, though he won't be as much of a prick as his clan is.**

**Please review!**


	47. Chapter 46: Politics

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: 600 reviews, yes! Keep them coming! Sorry to post this much anticipated chapter a little late, but I had been kept at home again so my parents could have a few days out, and the computer at home is off limits for this story.**

**So we actually get to see what Gaara is going to have up his sleeve in future chapters as he tests his new attacks on Sasuke's Susanoo. And we also hear a little more on Raizen Genshukuayatsuri. Please enjoy!**

**Chapter 46: Politics**

"The Gravity Manipulators?" Felix asked as he looked intently at the scroll Naruto had been reading and was now showing him, Erika and Hinata. "I know that there were rumors that there was a survivor today though they were supposed to have been destroyed in ancient times, and that we were also investigating the rumors of a man named Raizen leading the faction from the elder Dimension that had been working with the Akatsuki, but I never suspected that they were connected."

Naruto nodded, and they read the scroll from the beginning.

_Zion Rikudou, the man who would later become known as the legendary Rikudou Sennin, was the sole survivor of the Six Paths clan, for as a child, the only clan with members as powerful, the Genshukuayatsuri , wiped out the Rikudous in a bid to establish a tyranny over the Elder Dimension. Zion had been spared, barely escaping with his life. _

_The boy later awakened the Rinnegan, and despite his hatred for the Genshukayatsuri, did not immediately seek revenge, instead strove to help those who fell under the oppression the clan had set. Upon realizing that there was a survivor of the Rikudous, the Gravity Manipulators sent assassin after assassin after Zion to end what they arrogantly perceived as the sole threat to their rule. Zion escaped time and time again, causing the Genshukuayatsuris to focus more and more effort on capturing and killing Zion. This turned out to be a mistake._

_The remaining fighters in the Elder Dimension began forming a resistance movement, with some aid from Zion, and this faction was mostly ignored by the Genshukuayatsuris, who were still striving to capture the future Rikudou Sennin. This arrogant act cost them dearly, for if they had stomped the resistance out while it was still in the developmental stages, then the Elder Dimension today would likely still be under their rule. As it was, by the time the Genshukuayatsuri clantook the resistance faction seriously, they were already outnumbered by over a thousand to one. _

_When the resistance assaulted the Gravity Manipulators, Zion himself also added his strength to the conflict, and the corrupt clan fought back, almost every single member refusing to believe they could lose the battle, believing themselves invincible no matter what they were up against. As a result, despite destroying nearly a third of the enemy troops, all but one of the clan had been slain, the sole survivor being Raizen Genshukuayatsuri._

Naruto looked up from the scroll and said, "This is where my clone dispelled, in order to let me know right away that he had found the name we had been looking for."

"But wait, didn't you see that yourself, having had the Rinnegan active to practice Deva Path?" Hinata asked, referring to the shared field of vision the Rinnegan gave its wielder.

"I did," Naruto replied. "But my clone didn't, he kept it shut off to read the scroll so I could focus on that training. He clearly did not think to just activate the dojutsu to show me what he was seeing. Idiot."

"But he is _your _clone," Erika said with a bit of amusement. "So his intelligence should roughly be the same as yours, so if he was too stupid to think of using the Rinnegan to show you, then that-."

"In our defense," Naruto hastily replied. "I only just recently got this ability, so it makes sense that I would not have thought of it right away. At any rate, moving on."

With that, Hinata, Erika, Felix and Naruto once again viewed the scroll. The next few paragraphs mainly detailed rebuilding peace in the Elder Dimension after what had happened with the Genshukuayatsuri clan, before the subject returned to Raizen.

_The sole survivor of his clan, a story which mirrored the newly named Rikudou Sennin's, Raizen had survived during this period of trying to rebuild what was lost. He vowed vengeance for the loss of his clan, but he was wiser than his arrogant clan members. Rather than attack the remainder of the Elder Dimension forces along with the Rikudou, Raizen knew he could not win that fight, so instead sought to increase his odds. _

_To achieve the destruction of those who had taken his clan, he eventually stumbled upon an ancient secret. Thus, he ventured into the core of the world, where the ancients had sealed a demon that had once destroyed most of the Elder Dimension: The Jyuubi._

_After many years of endless work, Raizen eventually managed to loosen the seal enough to release the ancient horror once more on the world. Thus, the Jyuubi emerged in a storm of magma from the crust of the Elder Dimension, ready to destroy all in its path._

"The hole that the Jyuubi made when it escaped the core of this world is actually still there," Felix said as they read that part. "These days, it has the interesting title of the Doomsday Pit, though it no longer goes all the way down to the world's core, the lava that formed the mantle filled it in a lot, though the scar is still a deep one."

_Naturally, the reemergence of this ten tailed demon sparked an immediate response with the Elder Dimension's forces, and they began to do all that they could to fight back the beast, but all of their efforts and preparations to harm the Jyuubi were assaulted by Raizen. Raizen's strategy was to prevent the Elder Dimension's forces from getting organized enough to form a defense against the Jyuubi, keeping the ranks as disorganized and chaotic as possible._

_It was then that the Rikudou Sennin attacked Raizen, in a desperate effort to buy the army enough time to launch the needed counterattack. The battle between these two solitary survivors of their respective clans was one that demolished much of their surroundings, though neither one was able to wound the other, until at last, the last Gravity Manipulator ran out of chakra, and was cut down by Zion. Thus the Genshukuayatsuri clan died out utterly._

The rest of the story was the same common knowledge of the Rikudou Sennin, how he and the army had driven the Jyuubi into a rift from the Elder Dimension to Naruto's dimension, and how he chose to be exiled to protect the inhabitants of the more primitive world.

"B-but wait," Hinata said a little fearfully. "How could this be the same Raizen? I mean, he did die fighting the Sage, didn't he? And even if he survived, then he would be far too old to be alive today. Could the Raizen we are facing be doing the same thing as Obito?"

"I'm not so sure that is the case," Felix said thoughtfully. "Don't forget, we are also up against another foe from not too long after the events we have just read about, Caius Shikkokyo, the Corrupt Phoenix."

Hinata shivered, and Naruto scowled at that name. She had told Naruto that Caius was interested in making her into one of his Edo Tensei to use against him, which sickened the whiskered blonde to his very core. "It is likely that he found Raizen's remains, and it's not too much of a stretch that he has been helping Raizen cheat death for all these centuries," Felix continued. "That said, we could very well be facing the very same enemy that the Rikudou Sennin himself needed to give his all against if history is accurate."

All three other people present shivered at the scary thought. "So what are we going to do about this information?"Naruto asked.

"I am going to inform the Ruling Council, and hopefully, they will see enough sense to take decisive action. I wouldn't hold my breath though. Even if our Chancellor, the highest ranking member were believe that Raizen is still alive, despite a lack of concrete proof, there are way too many other idiots on the council who would be too scared to take the rumors seriously, which could drown out the opinions of those who actually have and use their brains, even if the Chancellor is one of the latter group. Damn politics. It's times like these I wish we ran on a dictatorship rather than a democracy.

"In the meantime, I would suggest you continue your work on mastering the Rinnegan Naruto. Raizen did lose to one with those same eyes after all, so they could be one of your greatest weapons against him."

…...

If one could see what was going on in Itachi's office two days later, they would wonder why he was not addicted to headache medication. He had just been receiving a mission report from one of the jonin instructors, none other than Sakura Haruno, who had gotten past the rank of chunin in this timeline, and was now leading her own genin team **(A/N: You will never guess who is on it!**), when he had been rather rudely interrupted by Homura and Koharu, who had burst in on him, demanding to know the reason he was risking a political scandal right now.

Apparently, they had gotten wind of the fact that Itachi had decided to harbor Fu, Takigakure's jinchuriki, when said nation had seen fit to order the girl's execution. They were not happy with the fact that Takigakure was sending shinobi envoys to try to make demands with Itachi, a few of them even going so far as to threaten war, to which the Uchiha had responded coolly that they would never win if it came to that. He had been willing to offer compensations however, though Taki downright refused them, still preferring to make threats of retaliation unless their demands were met, stating that the Nanabi was their property and they were going to ensure it was destroyed.

So now Itachi and Sakura were being treated to a tirade from the aged councilors, after Itachi had given Sakura permission to stay and hear what was being discussed. The things stated in this tirade included, but were not limited to, the two councilors practically ordering Itachi to comply with Taki's demands, why Itachi would want to increase the risk of Konoha being targeted by the Akatsuki and how Konoha must look to other nations right about now. Finally, Itachi had had enough.

"I'll have you know," Itachi said. "That the nations of Suna, Kumo and even Iwa have gotten wind of my decision already and they have agreed that it is not fair to allow Taki to kill off one of their shinobi for circumstances beyond her control. The former two are because of the fact that the jinchuriki of the villages are related to the kages of said villages, so they can understand what is right or wrong when it comes to the treatment of these individuals."

"It's not about what's right or wrong, it's about what's best for the village!" Homura almost shouted. "If Danzo were Hokage, he would ignore such foolish sentimentalism and focus on the greater good!"

Itachi was well and truly pissed at this point. He himself remembered what he had to do for "the greater good" in the previous timeline, and he was not at all pleased about that being brought up, even if it was unintentional and unknown by the councilors. Slapping his hands down on his desk, and rising with an expression that would have sent anyone with experience dealing with Tsunade running he said, "But Danzo is not Hokage right now. I am. And as such, _I _give _you _orders, not the other way around, so you can spout all of your petty demands at me you desire. You will not change my mind."

Sputtering, Koharu immediately replied, "You can't just ignore-,"

"And I will also have you know," Itachi continued, cutting off the aged woman. "That what you call the greater good, I prefer the lesser evil. And to me, lesser evil is still just that, evil. And the foolish sentimentality you mentioned? Let me tell you that is exactly what built this village in the first place. It was our Shodaime Hokage's desire to unite feuding clans to prevent further bloodshed between them. Even though he had had Madara at his mercy at one point, he chose to put his life on the line rather than simply do what someone like Danzo would have. Had he not done that, the Uchiha and the Senju would never have been able to build this village. While I admire Danzo's willingness to protect the village, it would shame the previous hokage who built and protected the village based on what they thought was right. Think about that. And get out of my office while you are at it."

"You think you can just-," Koharu snarled.

"You have no authority to-," Homura growled at the same time, but then Sakura cut them both off.

"I think he just reminded you of the fact that he is the Hokage and by extension, your boss, so why are you trying to give him orders? So why don't you just shut up and do as he says? In fact, I'll make it easy for you and give you not one, but two ways out of the room. You can either voluntarily exit yourself through the door, or I can forcefully help you out, through the window. Your choice," she said the last part with a sweet smile that screamed to anyone with any common sense, "DANGER, RUN!"

Apparently even the two aged councilors had enough sense to see the danger and realized that Itachi could and would let her carry out her threat, and fled the room faster than you would expect people their age. Sighing, Itachi sat back in his chair and said, unwittingly echoing a certain wielder of all five elements, "Damn, I hate politics."

"Er, Hokage-Sama?" Sakura said. "If I may ask, what exactly was that all about anyway? What exactly is a jinchuriki?"

Itachi gave the pink haired kunoichi a brief explanation about what a bijuu and a jinchuriki was, and about the fact that an organization called the Akatsuki was after them. "In short," he was finishing. "When the Akatsuki took the host of the Nanabi, they did some serious damage and killed off many of their best shinobi before they claimed her. They were going to extract the Nanabi from her, but I had sent Team Kimimaro to stop them, and they were only able to extract a large portion of the Nanabi's chakra. Unfortunately, Taki is now calling for the death of Fu, because they have decided arbitrarily that they had only kept her demon around because of the value as a weapon, but since the Akatsuki are willing to do a lot of damage to the village, they think that the threat overshadows the value."

"But that's not the slightest bit fair!" Sakura almost shouted. "If she had the bijuu sealed within her at birth, then she was practically marked for death from the get-go!"

"I agree, that's why I ordered Kimimaro to bring her back here. I am also putting him in charge of her safety for the time being."

"Wait, why are you telling me this?"

"As a jonin, you are privy to this information anyway, and it actually pertains to you more than you know, though it's not my place to tell you why on that part," Itachi replied. "At any rate, shouldn't you get going if you want your team to take the chunin exams in Suna?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. So where's Sasuke-kun? I was thinking our teams and us could go together."

Itachi paled before he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a box labeled: When giving bad news to a kunoichi, use these. He pulled out a set of earplugs and inserted them before saying, "He… kinda left the village already, saying he had to meet an old friend there before the exams."

Silence… then…

….

The outskirts of Konoha heard a deafening cry of, "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT HE LEFT WITHOUT WAITING FOR ME TO COME BACK FROM THAT C-RANK WE GOT FROM YOU!? OHHHHH HE IS SOOOOOOOOOOO GONNA GET IT WHEN I GET TO SUNA! CHA!"

….

Sasuke suddenly shivered as he faced Gaara in one of the more private training grounds in the Hidden Sand Village. "Why do I suddenly feel mortal terror?"

"Relax, I don't intend to use any of these techniques against you, just one of your Shadow Clones," Gaara replied, misinterpreting Sasuke's apprehension.

"It's not that, it's… never mind, just show me what you can do. First your new defense."

"It's really just an upgraded version of my old Sand Shield," Gaara replied as the cork of his gourd popped out, and sand that had several glittering particles in it poured out. "I had gotten used to carrying heavier and heavier sand in my gourd to increase the overall strength of my absolute defense. The glittering you see is dust, ground from diamonds my Sand Radar techniques have helped me find, mixed into my sand. This adds strength to my defense as you likely guessed. And because I am using heavier sand, I had to train almost nonstop to keep the speed of it up to par with what I could do, but the result is an increased speed with regular sand as well, and my stamina has also shot up, so I am already far stronger than I had been when I had fought Madara in the previous timeline, though if I face someone like him again, I decided I would need more than an ultimate defense.

"But before I show you how hard my new offense hits, try to fire a Susanno arrow at my Sand Shield, and see if it can stop it." Gaara then formed the Sand Shield and stepped out of it. Sasuke nodded and his Susanoo formed around him, and shot an arrow at the empty shell.

The shield held briefly before the arrow shattered into purple fragments. There was a small hole that could be used to peer into the interior of the shell, but if Gaara had actually been inside of the Shield, he would have been completely unharmed. The shield reformed, and Gaara then requested a Rasenlance, which Sasuke complied with. The lightning spear already had more penetration power than the arrows did, and also had an elemental advantage over Gaara's sand. As a result, the Rasenlance was barely slowed as it passed through the shield.

"Well, I have yet to find anything that can actually withstand that, so don't feel too bad," Sasuke said apologetically as his seal he had activated to throw the jutsu receded. "Naruto's Version Two cloak stalled it and the lance would not have penetrated if I allowed him to get carried back by the impact, but my Rasentide held him in place."

"Very well then, though I can see that I am going to want to add even more diamond dust to the shield. Now, I believe it is time to show you my new offense and test it. If you would have a Shadow Clone use Susanoo…"

Sasuke nodded and made a Shadow Clone to do just that, and Gaara pulled a scroll from his pouch and unsealed… a giant, twenty-two foot long sword made entirely out of diamond. Sasuke's eyes widened as he took that in, and saw that the edge was keener than a razor. "How the hell can you wield that, it's four times longer than you are tall!" Sasuke said.

Gaara smirked before he said, "Like this. Sand Deity!" As he shouted the last part, his Sand Shield formed around him, before much of the sand from the desert formed around it, and the end result was a warrior of sand that was about thirty feet tall, with the Sand Shield that had Gaara within it.

"Let me guess," Sasuke said with a wry smirk as the Sand Deity picked up the diamond claymore. He had his Shadow Clone fully form the Final Susanoo he had used to destroy several White Zetsus in the previous timeline. "You were inspired by the Susanoo to create that."

"You got me," Gaara said from within the Sand Deity, connecting his optic nerve to the third eye of sand he made to see outside of the new jutsu. The warrior gripped the sword with both hands and brought it down on the Susanoo with a lot more speed than expected and it hit the aura with enough force to completely shatter it and dispel Sasuke's clone.

"Well, I am certainly impressed," Sasuke said. Not many attacks could utterly destroy a Susanno like that, though Sasuke could have dodged it if he wanted to. Gaara let the Sand Deity dissolve and his Sand Shield returned to his gourd.

"Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks is the lack of air inside of that thing," Gaara replied. "So unless I leave a hole for air to get in and out, I can only use this jutsu for a few minutes at a time. Not only that, but using it to swing a sword that heavy can drain my chakra pretty fast, though like I said, my stamina has gotten better, though not as good as Naruto's."

"Whose is?" Sasuke deadpanned.

….

Felix was fuming as he left the council rooms. Despite having convinced a fair number of councilors, and even Chancellor Samuel, that at least precautionary measures should be taken in case of Raizen's now seemingly likely continued survival, the vast majority of the corrupt old fools refused to think past their wrinkles and outvoted those who wanted to take decisive action, at least until concrete proof was obtained. In short, they were too scared to address this problem, preferring to hope and pray that if they ignored it, it would not exist.

Sometimes, Felix wondered why he was a council member himself, if his words were always drowned out by lackers of common sense. Once again, he wished Samuel was a dictator rather than a Chancellor. Then the head of his least favorite clan, the Chihanshus, walked up to him. Surprisingly, Nathan Chihanshu had been one of Felix's allies on this urgent matter. Usually, the Yoshoryuus and the Chihanshus went out of their way to oppose each other, unless they strongly felt the same way on one particular thing they both debated about. It was a running joke among the more intelligent council members that when members of both clans agreed on something, they were always right, and it was always about something bad for everyone, kind of like Tsunade winning bets on anything except Naruto. So far it was seven for seven in the past century.

"Seems there are too many fools on the council today," Nathan said as he slowly extended his hand to Felix, who reluctantly took it to shake. Like all Chihanshus, Nathan had perpetually open, though not bleeding, cuts on each of his fingertips and his palms **(A/N: No prizes for guessing what those are for!)**. He also had the hereditary storm grey eyes of the clan, and his hair was a very dark brown, almost black. "If there is even a chance that Raizen is still around, we should take more action than what is already being done."

"Well, the Elder Dimension won't do anything major about it," Felix seethed.

"But I will help you out a bit," Nathan replied. "I will send my nephew Alex along to the Namikaze boy's dimension with you when you go back. He's a good fighter and who knows, he may even get over his foolish phobia after a few brushes with death."

"Phobia?"

"Due to a certain incident that… damaged him in the past, he has developed a fear of the inferior sex." Felix's eyes narrowed as Nathan said this. "At any rate, I will send him over to your compound to get acquainted tomorrow. See you around."

As Nathan left, Felix shook his head. Ally in this or not, Felix well and truly hated the sexist bastards of a clan. He then wondered what could make this Alex so afraid of the group of people his own clan had put down for so long. He supposed he would find out tomorrow.

**A/N: I hope that the history lesson was satisfactory and that you were all impressed by Gaara. I also hope that no one minded me giving the Rikudou Sennin a name, since that was too much for him to ask from Kishimoto. While we are on that subject, does anyone know what the name of Gaara's father is, because he just keeps being referred to as either that or as the Kazekage. If no one does have a name for him, I will just give him one too.**

** As for Alex, he may come off as a jerk at first in the next chapter, but there is a good reason for that. The only thing I am saying is that I have based his back story off of a Fire Emblem Awakening character a little.**

**I also decided on what Raizen's EMS abilities are going to be. Just like there is a set of abilities that are both called Kamui, that control an aspect of space, Raizen's eyes are going to control aspects of time. His right eye will cast Omoikane, the name of a Japanese god of wisdom (all of the Mangekyo abilities are named after some god or another), and will have a power similar to the Miraiyochigan, allowing him to see a full minute into the future, but with thirty seconds at a time afterwards for not being able to see what's coming, representing the "future" aspect of the eyes. The left eye will cast Sarutahiko, a Japanese god of earth, and will have the ability to revert time on whatever crosses its gaze, allowing him to "heal" his own wounds, or undo any jutsu he can see with that eye. The limitations of the "past" aspect eye are that it can't go back any further than a max of five minutes, and once you revert time on something, you can't go back further than the point of last use. For example, if the last thing you used the eye on was a minute ago, you would not be able to revert time on anything else further back than a minute. It will also require a cool down period of its own, twice the amount of time you reverted something back with it, so if you turned back time for say, fifteen seconds to heal a wound, or maybe bring back an enemies' wound that was just healed, you would have to wait thirty seconds to use the eye again. I hope that is conveyed as powerful, but not unreasonably so.**

**Another thing, could the reviewer Antoni PLEASE review in English, so I know what he is saying? I do like to know what the opinion of my story is, is that too much to ask? I write it in English, so if you can read and review it, you clearly either understand the language, or have a means of translation, so is it too hard to review in the language the story is written in? That's just common sense, to use a language you know the person you are trying to tell**

**something knows. I am not trying to insult your language, I just don't understand it. Sorry to rant, but getting messages I can't read frustrates me.**

**Please read and Review! (Preferably in English, even if it's in an annoying accent. How can writing have an accent you ask?... I have no idea. (Isaac sneezes in the background))**


	48. Chapter 47: The Exams Begin!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Four words. Two. Hundred. Thousand. Words!**

**Thank you all so much for your reviews for the previous chapter! In this chapter, Naruto and Hinata meet Alex a Chihanshu who is a bit scared of females for reasons unknown at the moment, and we begin the Suna exams! Hope Akari and the team do well!**

**Chapter 47: The Exams Begin!**

"This is it," Kimimaro said as he, his team and Fu stood outside the gates of Konoha. "Hopefully your life will be better here than it was in Taki."

"That sentiment would be more believable if it was not your job to say it," Fu replied hotly as they went to report to the Hokage. As Kimimaro went on ahead with Suigetsu and Karin, Fu felt a hand on her shoulder, and she was forcefully turned around to come face to face with Jugo. "What's the big idea?" Fu demanded as she saw the hard expression on Jugo's face.

"You need to stop being so cynical with Kimimaro," Jugo said. "He truly wishes for you to adjust to what happened. He actually understands you better than you think."

"And just what makes you think so?" Fu growled. Normally, she was a happy-go-lucky sort of person, but the straw that broke the camel's back had just been put on her.

"Because he has told me of his past. He spent almost his entire childhood locked in a cage by his clan, for reasons he never knew, let alone could help. He was only let out when they wanted him to fight for them."

"Huh? But why would they treat one of their own like that?" Fu asked.

"Who knows? All he ever knew was what they did, not why. But the point is, he was treated similarly to the way jinchuriki have been in the past. He knows at least to an extent what you went through. That's why he feels obligated to help you."

Jugo walked after Kimimaro and the rest of the team after that, leading a slightly remorseful Fu behind him.

…...

"Naruto, are you alright?" Hinata asked as the panting blonde collapsed.

"I finally did it," Naruto said with satisfaction as he looked at the debris of the boulder he had flung the training dummy into with Shinra Tensei. Thanks to Kurama giving him so much chakra, he could almost endlessly train and master the Path in a short time frame, despite the fact that he could not rely on Shadow Clones for it. He was also having a few clones work on the other Paths, but he could not have that many on it at a time due to the disorientating effects of having so many fields of vision when he used the Rinnegan that e was still getting used to, so he had more clones studying the dojutsu and training methods with the Rinnegan shut off.

"I can finally use Deva Path effectively in combat," Naruto said as he got up.

"You shouldn't-," Hinata began, but Naruto held up a hand, took out a can of whipped cream and made a hundred Shadow Clones, each with cloned cream.

"You know what to do," he told all of them as they ran off into different directions, as if looking for someone or something. Noticing the confused expression on Hinata's face, he said, "What? Do you really want Isaac around right now?"

Hinata took the moment to giggle as she realized what Naruto was doing before the concern returned. "You shouldn't push yourself so hard you know," she said as Naruto used Deva Path to bring the training dummy back to himself. "I don't want to see you work yourself into the ground."

"I know, but if that Raizen we are up against really is the same as the one we read about, then I am going to have to be as strong as I can possibly get before the time comes if I want to face him. I mean, he went up against the guy who defeated the Jyuubi and created the ninja world, and he would have had to be stronger than Nagato was to accomplish that, and I had gone up against Nagato and would have lost without Itachi to bail me and B out that time. If I am to defeat a guy who could go toe to toe with someone with an even greater mastery of the Rinnegan and full use of his body, I will have to be as strong with the Rinnegan myself as possible before I confront the guy.

"And on top of that, we still have to deal with the Akatsuki, and Madara. That is a lot to deal with, and if they succeed in bringing the Jyuubi back again, even an incomplete form of it, we are going to have to have our work cut out for us."

"You're doing it again," Hinata said, confusing Naruto.

"Doing what?"

"Trying to take on responsibility for everything by yourself."

Naruto paused as the words sank in.

_Flashback_

_"If you allow yourself to become arrogant and egotistical because you now have power, you will wind up the same as Madara," Itachi said to Naruto shortly after sealing Nagato. A few more words had followed before Itachi told Naruto, "Never forget your friends!"_

_End Flashback_

In this timeline, Itachi had told Hinata to make sure Naruto did not ever try to do too much alone, and she had had to remind him a few times. "You don't have to stand on your own Naruto," she said to him. "Haven't we gotten this far this time by doing things together? There is no reason for us to stop walking down the same path, along with everyone else that has been on the road to a better future with us. We can't walk down that road if we don't help to pave it."

"Yeah, sorry, I just can't seem to stop doing that," Naruto said a little sheepishly.

**"And don't forget, you did have me on your side from the beginning this time," **Kurama said.

"Yeah thanks Kurama," Naruto said before he smiled at Hinata. "Still, I gotta at least make sure I pull my weight in this endeavor, but don't worry, I will leave plenty for the rest of you to do, and trust you to succeed wherever I can't."

"Thank you Naruto, that's all I ask," Hinata said before they embraced. No sooner had they broken apart than Felix came out to the training grounds.

"Hey guys, that Alex character has arrived. And he wants to know why a hundred giant squirrels that looked like they had rabies were chasing someone."

…

Alex looked confused at the rather entertaining spectacle of a man wearing a battle kimono that was grey and a red headband ran in mortal terror running laps around the compound as though his life depended on it. And if the mouth foaming squirrels that were the size of humans were anything to judge by, it probably did depend on it.

Like his uncle Nathan, Alex had open cuts on the tips of his fingers and palms, though no blood leaked from them. His eyes were also grey and his dark brown hair was cut down to his shoulders. He wore a short sleeved red vest and had black cargo pants. He also had blue fingerless gloves on. Strapped to his hip was a cutlass. He was about sixteen years old.

"Guess Naruto and Hinata wanted to have some time alone," Mathew said from behind Alex, giving the Chihanshu a start. Mathew ignored that and just ate popcorn that he somehow pulled from Kami knows where as he watched the chase going on.

"What does that have to do with this… spectacle?" Alex asked in confusion.

"The guy Isaac that is being chased right now by those squirrels has developed the bad habit of always doing something that ruins the mood between the two over the past couple of years, so lately Naruto has taken to taking advantage of the guy's fear of squirrels. Don't ask. He makes Shadow Clones to transform into squirrels to chase Isaac around so he is too preoccupied to disturb the two lovebirds. Recently he decided to make them all human sized to add some terror. The whipped cream to imitate rabies is a nice new touch."

"You must be Alex," Naruto said as he stepped out of the compound to find Alex and Mathew both waiting right outside the doors, still watching Isaac running rather comically. "I'm Naruto."

"You can make that many clones? For such an… interesting task?" Isaac asked, impressed with how casually Naruto could use the jutsu.

"Yep."

"Shouldn't you let the man stop running now Naruto?" Mathew asked. "As much as I am enjoying the show, if you and Hinata are done having your moment, then you could let him off the hook."

"Sure fine," Naruto said as he dispelled his clones. Hinata stepped out and gave a glance at the man who had passed out from exhaustion after his fear induced adrenaline wore off. She almost pitied him, but whenever she remembered the moments he had ruined, and those Naruto had to resort to such drastic measures she could enjoy, she lost that pity.

"Are you Alex Chihanshu?" Hinata asked as she approached the young man.

"Stay away!" Alex said as he backpedaled away from her, discomfort clear on his features. Hinata froze, looking slightly hurt.

"Yeah, Chihanshu clan alright," Mathew shook his head, glaring at Alex. "Same disdain for females of the human race you all have."

"I apologize," Alex said. "My actions were not out of disdain, but… let's just say I am put on edge by women."

"What, you're not scared of an "inferior being" are you?" Vanessa said as she alos came out of the building and rapidly approached Alex. But then Felix came out of nowhere to come between her and the young Chihanshu.

"As a matter of fact, he is scared of you and Hinata because of your gender, but not quite directly," Felix said. "I heard his story from him, and he has asked me to keep it between us, but I can say that he does not have the same problem as the rest of his clan."

"What do you mean he is not directly scared of them?" Naruto asked, giving Alex a hard look.

"He has been traumatized at a young age by a certain event which I will not elaborate on that is connected to this mindset of his. He is still capable of interacting with you two, but he needs to have some distance."

Hinata nodded as Felix continued to explain that Alex would be staying to train with them until the time came for the group to return to Naruto's world. Vanessa still looked at Alex with a bit of contempt in her eyes. She hated his whole damn clan. Of course, if she openly made his life miserable, Felix would let her have it. But if she was subtle enough, her father couldn't complain.

"Why don't you come inside and rest for a bit?" she asked with a bit of false sweetness. "I'll ask my mother to make you a nice large meal for you-," she was cut off as her "subtle" attempt to make Alex suffer a little was easily seen through by Felix, who gave her a bonk on the head to teach her a lesson.

"Nice try Vanessa, but I know that your mother's cooking is something only you would ever wish on your worst enemy."

Naruto sniggered at the girl. Though he could understand why Vanessa tried, even he would not try to force feed Madara those barely edible horrors that came from Erika's kitchen if he had the chance to. Honestly, the woman should just give that hobby up.

…

Three days later in Suna, a large crowd of shinobi wearing different head bands were in the receiving room of one of Suna's academies. Akari and her team were among them, and she quickly spotted Genyumaru, Haku and Kin. "Watch out for those three," she told Daisuke and Kiyoshi seriously. "Duck-Butt Sensei told me they were going to be serious competitors who should have made chunin years ago, but their sensei just found it inconvenient to take them to the exams until now."

"I wonder which of them is the greatest threat," Kiyoshi mused as he took in the other three Konoha genin.

"Well, on looks alone, I am inclined to think the big guy with the metal knuckles that he's wearing, and it looks like they are chakra conducting, but that is probably only true at close range," Daisuke whispered. "My guess is that he engages foes up close and personal while they have another ace in the hole do some damage from hidden positions a good distance away. I'm not so sure about the two females in the group though."

"I think Duck-Butt Sensei said one of them was a guy," Akari said, causing Daisuke to snigger.

"If that's the case, I pity the poor fools who end up mistakenly asking whoever it is out."

For some reason, a man wearing a Suna headband and mak- er, war paint, that was approaching the crowd sneezed violently, at the exact same moment in Konaha where an Inuzuka did so as well.

"Hey Akari, how ya been?" Konohamaru asked as he pushed his way through the crowd, Udon and Moegi close behind.

"Konohamaru, what are you doing here?" Akari asked, surprised.

"What do you think, we're taking the exams!" Konohamaru said. In this timeline, he was actually stronger than he had been at this point last time, owing partly to the fact that he got more practical tutoring from Naruto this time earlier on and also trained a bit with Akari. Udon and Moegi were also better than they were previously, because they were trying to keep up with the young Sarutobi. "Sakura-Sensei has decided we were good enough to at least take a shot, and she thinks it will be good experience for us, even if we don't make the rank!"

Yep, this time Sakura is Konohamaru's jonin instructor instead of Ebisu. In this timeline, Itachi had set up some optional advanced classes at the academy to improve the top genin that came out of the graduation process, and decided to take full advantage of Ebisu's talent as an instructor, and put him in charge of those courses. Daisuke, Kiyoshi and Konohamaru had all taken those extra credit classes.

"Oh, so Duck-Butt Sensei's girlfriend is here too?" Akari asked. Konohamaru sniggered.

"Yeah, and he better watch out. Sensei is scary when she's mad, and when your Sensei left without waiting for her to get back from our mission outside the village… well, I am just glad I am not on the receiving end of her wrath like the time I first met her and thought she was a guy because of that… flat chest of hers." Konohamaru shivered as he recalled that horrible incident. He still had nightmares.

Akari chortled. She had been around for that, and still had the pictures of Konohamaru being taught a lesson. She took one last glance around to see if there were any other people of interest competing, but only spotted Matsuri and her team among the crowd.

"Alright, listen up all of you!" the war paint wearing man shouted to all of them, and they quickly stood rigid. A few other Sand shinobi stood behind the man, but it was clear that they were just assistants in proctoring this exam. "Starting now, you are all officially in the deep shit known as trying to improve your shinobi rank, and all of your actions from here on out will be evaluated. I am the proctor for the first part of the exam, you can all call me Kankuro. The exam as a whole will consist of three parts! Today we will do the first part, which involves intelligence gathering. Those of you who get the code phrase we have set up and bring it back to tell us by sundown will pass the first exam and move on to the survival portion of the test, where you become Temari's problem!

"The ground rules are as follows. In order to get the code phrase, you are to find the people we have scattered throughout the village who know it. The villagers who have volunteered to participate will be able to give you a few leads here and there, but finding out who knows the phrase we are looking for and getting them to talk is on you. The ones in the village who are participating in this exam will be wearing one of these," he held out a bright purple wristband with three red streaks on it. "You are allowed to use torture and interrogation tactics on anyone, shinobi or civilian, wearing one of these you suspect knows the code, but you are NOT to cause any permanent physical and/or mental damage, or you will be disqualified. You are not to do anything to anyone without one of these on. If you attack or try to force any other person taking the exams to tell you what they know, that is also grounds for disqualification, though you are free to simply ask nicely and/or tell anyone else what you know should you wish to exchange information. Also, if you come back and give us even one wrong code, you are disqualified immediately, so you better be sure the source is an honest one."

Most of the genin gulped, but Akari, Daisuke and Kiyoshi were already making plans to get what they needed. The Sharingan would have come in handy if Daisuke had awakened it, but he and his team had other ways.

"Are there any questions?" Kankuro asked. "Yes?" he asked one of the genin who had raised her hand.

"Are we allowed to use anything we have brought on us?" the girl asked.

"As long as you obey the rules I have earlier mentioned, anything goes. You are also allowed to resupply in the midst of the exam if you have the ryo, since in infiltration missions, you would often have the chance to visit shops if for no other reason than to acquire information, but remember that this is not always the case. Yes?"

"Does everyone who has one of those bands on know the code, or do they just have information that could lead us to one that does?" asked another genin.

"Everyone wearing a band has intel that could point you in the right direction, but also possibly the wrong one. Only some know the code, and like I said, it's up to you to determine what intel is good intel and what intel is bad intel. Any more questions? No? Then the first exam begins!"

Akari and her team immediately left the building to find anyone wearing one of the bands, already formulating plans. What they did not know was that they were being watched by a group of Iwa genin.

"Hm, I am sure of it, that girl is a Namikaze, she is the spitting image of the Yondaime's wife," the leader of the team said. Then he started laughing. "Perhaps we can avenge the crimes against us the Yellow Flash committed in the Third War, come the second exams."

…

"Finally decided to unload the team huh?" Sasuke said as he met Zabuza outside a bar.

"Yeah, I got no problems with them all getting their vests now," the mummified man said. "Do you think your team stands a chance against mine?"

"Well, while I am sure Daisuke and Kiyoshi could put up a decent fight against at least Kin, I know that Genyumaru and Haku should be testing for jonin right now rather than chunin. So Akari would kick their asses."

Zabuza, who had unwrapped enough of his face to take a swig of beer, sprayed the beverage in shock. "Are you really saying a nine year old girl could beat either one of my own stronger students!?" he demanded.

"Yep, and age has nothing to do with strength in the shinobi world these days, unless you are just a swaddling infant. But I will bet you 20,000 ryo that if Akari faces either Genyumaru, Haku or both during the third exam, she will come out on top."

"You're on," Zabuza said, and they shook on it.

They bantered for another minute or two when Sasuke heard the blood chilling words, "Ohh, Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuek paled and then said, "Please Zabuza, tell me that the girl behind me who just said that does not have pink hair."

"She does not," Zabuza replied.

"Really?" Sasuke asked, not daring to be relieved yet.

"No not really, you just asked me to tell you she did not have pink hair so I did, though it was a lie. Don't say I never do anything for you."

"I hate you," Sasuke said to Zabuza as he turned around to face Sakura.

"Why Sasuke, I would think you weren't happy to see me," Sakura said, her tone and smile dripping with sweetness, the last way anyone who valued their internal organs and outer layers of skin would want her to address them. "Why don't we catch up a bit. We didn't get a chance to when I got back from my mission, since you LEFT BEFORE THEN!"

Yep, Sasuke was screwed. Royally, painfully, fatally screwed.

…

**Omake: Top three NaruHina moments Isaac ruined. #3.**

**(A/N: This is my first attempt at an Omake, I just want to let you all know exactly why Naruto has to go as far as he does to keep Isaac away from him and Hinata when something is about to go on.)**

"Are you sure it was a good idea to let Isaac cook for us during our alone time tonight Naruto?" Hinata asked a little nervously.

"Well, with Felix, Vanessa, Mathew and Kyle **(A/N: This Omake is from before Kyle died and Naruto got the Rinnegan.) **gone on that little training trip, the alternative is to have Erika do it, and I'd rather risk Isaac's antics than that," Naruto said, and he and Hinata both shuddered as they remembered the one time they had sampled Erika's cooking. All that can be said of the results of that horror was that Naruto would rather swallow Saiken's acid than go there again. "Besides, this way, we know where he is and can keep an eye on him, rather than him doing something totally unexpected to us."

"And here is your dinner, ladies, gentlemen, Naruto," Isaac said as he came into the room with a lidded dinner tray, and ignoring the glare he had earned from the blonde after that last word.

"Odd, I didn't smell anything when you cooked," Naruto said a little suspiciously, ignoring another flash of pain in his eyes.

"So your meal is a little raw, that's better than what Erika makes right?" Isaac said.

"Good point," Naruto said and Hinata giggled. Naruto lifted the lid… and he and Hinata promptly fled the room, screaming. Apparently Isaac had downplayed the "raw" part, to the extent where the meat was actually still breathing. And when Naruto said he wanted Isaac to make them some steaks, Isaac had somehow thought Naruto had said "snakes." **(A/N: Cookie for anyone who recognizes that joke)**

Needless to say, neither of the two ever let either Erika or Isaac prepare a meal for them again. Either one would have them run screaming from their entrée.

**A/N: Yeah, I know what you are all thinking… those poor Iwa bastards don't know what they are getting into, lol.**

**The poll on who will fight Madara will close by the time next chapter is posted, so you likely have until tomorrow to vote! Of course, that is no absolute guarantee that next chapter will come out tomorrow, you will just have to keep your fingers crossed. Please Read and Review!**


	49. Chapter 48: Shika's Troublesome Day

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I have now found out that my story is a part of five communities, yay! It seems that I always have something good to say at the beginning of each of my chapters!**

**This chapter will have the first part of the exams, and some comic relief in the form of me torturing Shikamaru, who has been in Suna to help Temari with the second exam. It's going to be rather troublesome for him to say the least.**

**Chapter 48: Shika's Troublesome Day**

"Alright, the first thing we gotta do is find as many of the people wearing those wristbands we can," Daisuke said and Akari nodded as she bit her thumb.

She cast a few hand signs and shouted, "Summoning Jutsu!" With a poof of smoke, about ten small monkeys were revealed. During her single apprenticeship with Sasuke, Akari had seen him use the Summoning Jutsu and tried it herself before the raven haired boy could stop her. End result: Akari ended up in the Forest of Apes due to the fact that she had not signed a contract and apparently monkeys were the species Akari had the highest affinity for.

Sasuke had a brush with death when Kushina had found out her daughter was missing, and beat the poor boy worse than she beat Jiraiya when she had found out about him using Minato's and her honeymoon. Then she ordered Sasuke to go find Akari, which was downright unreasonable due to the fact that the poor raven haired teen could barely move after the pounding.

Luckily, Akari had gotten on well with Enma, the aging monkey king, and he had given her the Monkey Summoning Contract, and had one of his fastest messenger monkeys get to Konoha, which was fairly close to the forest the apes inhabited, and it Reverse Summoned her. She did not go home right away, because one condition of her signing the contract was that she had to bring it to Konohamaru, since Enma wanted Sarutobi's grandson to have it, but never had the opportunity to go to Konoha just to give the boy the contract.

After that little scare was over, Akari and Konohamaru were both recognized as Monkey Summoners, though last Akari checked, messenger chimps were all Konohamaru could summon, while Akari could bring large gorillas into a fray.

She gave each of the small monkeys some seeds and said, "Alright guys, here's what I- No, don't eat those!" she chided one before continuing, "I want you all to find people wearing one of these and put a seed on them. I got that Yamato fellow Sasuke got acquainted with to teach me how to have those seeds send a signal back to me." The monkeys took the seeds and scattered.

…..

Shikamaru and Temari were walking down the streets of Suna, discussing the second part of the exam that Shikamaru had been in the foreign village to help set up the exams. "How many teams do you think will get to the part I'm in charge of?" Temari asked and Shikamaru shrugged.

"I would probably have a better idea of that if I had stayed awake during the explanation of how the exams would work. Honestly, this diplomatic mission is troublesome."

"You're impossible to motivate, aren't you?" Temari said. "Ah well, at least you are easier to deal with than my two siblings. After all, one is a sexually confused guy who spends a lot of time applying makeup that he calls war paint, and the other is a former insomniac and used to get jolly out of shedding blood, and now just spends all of his time training these days. Good thing he got his seal fixed, else he would likely have driven _himself _nuts by now, instead of just me."

"Well, at least you have experience with difficult family members. I honestly feel sorry for the poor tykes when you have children," Shikamaru said. And then he was blasted through the wall when Temari struck him with her fan. _"Odd, she can have a bit of a temper, but she is usually not _that _quick to hit me. Unless… oh troublesome, it must be that time of the month!_" Shikamaru was thinking as Temari approached him, holding her fan like a baseball bat in both hands.

"Oh, and just what is wrong with my potential maternal ability?" Temari demanded as she stopped right in front of Shikamaru, who paled as he tried to scoot back.

"In order to keep you from killing me, I am going to just refrain from answering that," Shikamaru tried. Swing and a miss.

"Come back here so I can kill you!" Temari shouted as she chased the shadow user, who was running so fast that he almost left his greatest tool behind, which would have been quite a feat for someone who barely finds the energy to get up in the morning.

"Dying is a little troublesome for me today," Shikamaru muttered as he managed to lose her, though he knew she'd still be after him. Girls were so troublesome, particularly when they were PMSing. Frantically, he looked around for a hiding spot, before he finally hid in an alley.

"Where are you, ya lazy ass?" Temari shouted alarmingly close by. Shika paled as he realized that it would not be long before she came upon his position. Getting desperate, he grabbed one civilian with his shadows and yanked him into the alley, and after a quick effort to get the guy tied up, Shikamaru left wearing the guy's hooded sweatshirt, shadowing his face.

"Sorry," he said to the guy after tossing him some ryo to compensate for his assault. "But I kind of panicked there, and I am not good enough at transformation jutsu to fool my PMSing girlfriend who is trying to turn me inside out."

With that, Shikamaru left the alley completely, and managed to pass Temari without drawing her attention. Little did he know that his day was about to get much more troublesome. Because there was a purple wristband attached to the sleeve of the sweatshirt.

….

_Blood coated the ground. There were several bodies of the thugs, and many more who were left still alive fled the one who killed the others. He let them go, not interested in petty revenge. Instead, he moved slowly towards the corpse of his one ally in this battle, tears staining his face._

Alex woke with a start and shot into a sitting position, sweat covering his face. "That same dream," he muttered, his forehead in his hand. "Will I never escape the nightmare that is my past?"

He got up and left his guest room, going down for breakfast, when he saw smoke coming from the kitchen. An ashen faced Erika came out, coughing, and she said to Alex, "Breakfast should be ready soon, you might want to wait a bit."

Mathew came out of another room, and he saw Alex make the decision to skip breakfast and move immediately towards the training grounds. "Not going to wait for the most important meal of the day?" Mathew asked, and Alex looked at him.

"From the look of things, breakfast was ready about an hour ago," Alex deadpanned and Mathew burst out laughing.

"I know what you mean. The sad thing is, she's actually getting better at cooking. Here." He tossed Alex an apple.

"Thanks."

"When you grow up with HER to cook for you, you learn to have other sources of food handy."

….

A few minutes later, Alex and Vanessa stood facing each other in the training field with their blades drawn. It turned out that while Alex had trouble dealing with females when it came to casual contact, he actually had no problems fighting them in spars, or life or death situations, due to adrenaline helping him ignore his phobia. Naruto once unknowingly come close to angering the young Chihanshu when he teasingly asked if his fear of women had come from getting dumped at one point. Alex had shortly replied it was nothing like that before he left, leaving Naruto to realize he had mistakenly touched a nerve.

Vanessa glared at Alex before she charged him, and he deftly sidestepped and she quickly followed up with heavy, but skillful strokes. His kenjutsu style was based on the concept of completely avoiding a foe's attacks or deflecting them with as little effort as possible rather than blocking dead on blows, and wait for an opening to get an attack of your own in. He held his body so that the side that had the hand he kept his cutlass in was facing his foe, just like a fencer, so as to present a more narrow target.

And what infuriated Vanessa was that he was exceedingly good at it. She was considered an expert with swords herself, but she could not even touch Alex every time they sparred. Needless to say, this made her as frustrated as hell, when he yet again disarmed her and held his blade to her neck.

"Wow, he's very good," Naruto said as he saw Vanessa storm off the field. He himself had trouble sparring with Vanessa when they only used kenjutsu. "Of course, it could just be that Vanessa's style is a bad matchup with his, but that alone would not be nearly enough to beat her."

"And his Kekkei Genkai is not something that you should ignore either," Hinata said. She herself had sparred once with Alex, and he was able to keep her at a good distance throughout using his clan techniques, which allowed him to endlessly produce his own blood, which left his body via the cuts on his hands, with his chakra and use it in a manner similar to Gaara's sand. The one time Hinata had gotten close enough to attack Alex, he had also shown the ability to pump a good deal of blood into his arm and increase his brute strength to an extent where he easily forced Hinata backwards. Had she had her bow, it would have been more even of a matchup.

He also showed off his summons once, a creature called a hydra. It was a creature similar to a dragon, except it had no elemental breath, and it's body consisted of a single inflexible tail, two legs, a torso, and three heads with very long snakelike necks. Alex had said that if one head was removed, two more would grow in its place, unless the wound was immediately closed somehow. Another thing that could make fighting one of them a pain was the fact that their blood was highly acidic and toxic, to a point where it could dissolve most metals easily.

Naruto mentally sized up their new comrade. It was already evident that he was at least high jonin level, if not low kage. So far, he had only seen Felix beat him, and he was eager to try his hand against Alex himself at some point.

…..

"That was not too difficult," Kin said as she put away a vial she had. Over the past couple of years, she had learned more about certain toxins that she could use for various purposes. She had already coated most of her senbon in venoms that caused the victims to hallucinate, making her genjutsus more effective. She also had some decent truth serum, which helped get honest answers out of people, extremely effective when she added the before mentioned toxins and genjutsu combo. As a result, once they had found a few people with the purple bands, one of them a Suna genin not taking the exams, they had no problems getting answers from them and they did not do any serious harm to anyone who volunteered for this. In fact, they were probably one of the more lenient teams. Team Zabuza had few doubts that some other genin might get a little carried away and at least come close to getting disqualified to get the codeword.

"Hopefully we have the right code phrase," Haku said.

"Please, you're talking to an expert at this sort of thing," Kin boasted. "Even before I had added poison to my repertoire, I learned a thing or two from my time as an Oto nin. If I was being lied to, I would know."

"If the phrase we got gets us disqualified, I will repeat those exact same words to you," Genyumaru said.

…

Shikamaru sighed with relief. It seemed that he would be escaping Temari's wrath for today. He had actually just had a reminder of just how troublesome a temperamental girlfriend could be when he saw Sakura standing next to a set of legs sticking out of the ground and kicking. It did not take a genius of his level to figure out that the legs belonged to Sasuke and he had done something to make Sakura mad enough to pile drive him with that chakra enhanced strength of hers. Shikamaru shivered as he pictured Temari doing the same thing to him.

His thoughts were interrupted when he stepped on some ninja wire set up as a tripwire. With no warning, a bucket of banana sauce was dumped on him. "Now what!?" he asked as he whipped around to see Konohamaru and his corps standing behind him, the former having a few little monkeys on his shoulders.

"Now that we have your attention, you can just tell us what you know about the code phrase that will get us into the second exam," Konohamaru said.

"What makes you think I know anything about the first exam?" Shikamaru asked, though he paled as his genius mind was already connecting some dots. He knew that the first exam was to get some kind of intel from some villagers who where assisting with the exam for a good amount of ryo, but he had fallen asleep before he had heard anything else about the explanation.

But he had noticed that there were several people wearing the same wristband he had in his rather desperate disguise and that one of them seemed to be pestered by a team from Kumo, though Shikamaru did not think anything of those at the moment. He had simply thought that the wristbands were some sort of fashion statement, but now he had the nagging suspicion that they were the markers on who was fair game for the genin teams.

The suspicions were confirmed when Konmhamaru told him, "Don't play dumb, ya wouldn't be wearing that stupid thing if you weren't part of the exam!"

"Look kid, this is all a big mix-up, I am not part of the-,"

"Sic him!" Konohamaru shouted as a bunch more monkeys jumped out of hiding spots in the ambush area and Shikamaru paled, already realizing why banana sauce was what was in the bucket. And with that, about twenty monkeys began to maul him.

….

"The oasis lies in the center of the desert," one of the villagers told a genin team from Kusa. The Grass genin had put a genjutsu on him that made his ears ring endlessly until they chose to break it, basically annoying an answer out of him. They thanked the guy as they left. They did not realize that one of Akari's monkeys had tagged them with one of the seeds, this one working like a bug.

…..

About half an hour later, Akari whooped. The bugged seed had sent all sounds around the Kusa Team directly into Akari's ear for the past half hour, and she had found out what the code was and that it was the right one when the Kusa team was announced to have passed.

"I did not expect them to have the right code," Daisuke said, showing mild surprise. "After all, they did not seem to go to much trouble to confirm it."

"True, but it looks like both of our teams are lucky despite that," Kiyoshi said, before they were interrupted by a certain lazy genius skidding to a halt in their midst, covered in several cuts and bite marks. He was also rather wet and one of his shoulders had been covered in some kind of foul smelling goop. His hood had been torn off by this point.

"Shika, is that you?" Akari asked, a little confused about why the Nara was in such a state.

Shikamaru immediately grabbed her shoulders and shook her, a frenzied look of desperation in his eyes. "Please tell me you have the code phrase Akari, I've been hunted all day by that partner in crime of yours, and I need to get him off of my back!"

"I didn't know you were part of the first exam," Daisuke said as he looked at the band.

"I'm not, I was trying to escape Temari, and I put on the wrong disguise, please help me, I have been caught in more traps than I care to count!"

"Ramen for a week after the exams," Akari said with an evil gleam in her eyes.

"Deal!"

After that, Akari gave him the code and they headed towards the building they were supposed to bring it too. Not a moment too soon too, because once they were gone, Konohamaru and his two teammates skidded around the corner, all of them holding water balloons filled with Tabasco Sauce **(A/N: A rather spicy sauce, and I know from experience that you do NOT want that to get in your eyes)**.

"You ready to talk yet?" Konohamaru said with an evil grin.

"Yes!" Shikamaru said. "The oasis lies in the center of the desert!"

"I dunno, I think you may be giving us a wrong one," Moegi said as the team poised their arms to throw, aiming right at Shika's face.

"It's the truth, I swear! It would be too troublesome to lie!"

"Fine then, but if we're disqualified, we're coming back for you," Konohamaru warned and they dropped the dangerous tools and left. "Wait, was that guy familiar to you?" he asked the corps and they shrugged. "Ah, probably nothing."

Shikamaru sighed with relief. Usually he could have gotten out of a lot of things easier than that, but that kid was nearly as unpredictable as Naruto. It still beat the Nara how he could set so many traps so fast and were he got all those materials on short notice. Did he know how to make a couple Shadow Clones already, or did he just have some help from his monkey summons? Eh, at least he could finally relax…

"There you are," a falsely sweet voice said as its owner stuck her blonde haired head over the line of sight the laid back Nara had. Shikamaru began sweating profusely as he remembered that he lost the hood of his sweatshirt to the little buggers that were Konohamaru and his team. His doom chuckled sadistically as she prepared to beat him to within an inch of his life. "I've been looking for you all day you know…"

Suna's villagers immediately fled from the rather scary shouts of pain that late afternoon once they were heard.

**A/N: That chapter ended in a similar way to last one. I hope that was satisfactory for you all, and the final results of the poll on who fights Madara are in! The votes are as follows:**

**First place: Itachi and Sasuke, with 14 votes.**

**Second Place: Naruto, with 7 votes.**

**Last Place: Five Kage, with 0 votes. **

**Please Read and Review! **


	50. Chapter 49: The Labyrinth

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Now it is time for the second part of the exams, I hope you all are ready to see some heads get knocked together!**

**Chapter 49: The Labyrinth**

"Huh, 42 teams exactly eh?" Kankuro mused as looked over the teams in the building once the sun set. "Guess we gave too many people the code phrase, but we wanted to be sure that there would be enough who knew it for teams to pass based on ability rather than just bad luck on not encountering someone. Oh well, you are all Temari's problem now, so it will be her job to weed out the weaklings in these exams!"

"Alright listen up!" Temari shouted, drawing attention from the anime tear weeping, plaster casted body she was dragging along with her **(A/N: No prizes for guessing who the poor fella in there is)** to her. "We will be doing a survival portion of the exam tomorrow morning. I expect you to be at training ground 13 at 6 AM sharp tomorrow!"

"Yeah, can't wait to bust some heads tomorrow!" Akari said loudly enough to earn her some attention from the other genin in the room, and causing Daisuke to clap a hand over her mouth.

"You want to make an enemy of every other genin in the room?" the young Uchiha deadpanned, before they headed back to the hotel room, where Sasuke was waiting for them.

….

"Man, they have us wait until around 9 to go home and then they expect us to get up before 6 to go to the training grounds?" Kin was muttering to herself when they got back to their own hotel. "How are we supposed to get enough sleep after all that?"

"Oh shut up," Zabuza said, putting down the magazine he had been reading. "It is not that rare for shinobi to have to do a lot of their work on only a little sleep. Deal with it."

"So Zabuza-Sensei, what have you been up to today?" Genyumaru asked as Haku sat down to examine his senbon in preparation for the next day.

"Oh, I actually ran into the teachers of two of the other teams from Konoha," Zabuza smirked. "And got some blackmail material on one of them," he said as he took out several pictures he had taken, all of them of Sakura giving Sasuke a lot of pain, one of the same scene Shikamaru witnessed with Sasuke being buried headfirst into the ground, and another one of Sakura holding Sasuke by one leg and using him as a weapon to settle some score with a nearby building.

"I didn't realize blackmail was your style, Zabuza-Sensei," Haku chuckled.

"No it isn't, but I bet Naruto will pay some good ryo for the pictures so he could use them."

…..

Naruto suddenly felt giddy as he was infusing some chakra into the scales Alex's hydra had shed. "I suddenly feel that if I save my ryo, five of my birthdays are going to come at once," he said as he continued his task.

Apparently, the Animal Path actually required the Rinnegan user to use Yin-Yang Style chakra on something organic to basically "cultivate" a creature for the Rinnegan user to use. As the newly made organism grew, chakra receiver rods were to be implanted to speed the process up, as well as control the bodies made. It was also possible to give the grown organism actual life rather than have it be brain-dead and follow orders, but it was very risky to actually create souls with that jutsu. In fact, it was that final action that had killed the Rikudou Sennin rather than old age, though he was certainly tolled by that as well, when he had given nine personalities to the Bijuu he had made after splitting the Jyuubi's chakra into nine parts and creating the moon to seal the Jyuubi's body.

Reviving the dead was easier, because all you were doing was healing damage to a body, restarting it, and calling an already existing soul to it. Still daunting, but far more realistic than creating a soul from will and chakra alone.

At any rate, once the organism was done growing, only the Rinnegan user that had created it could summon it, and one other cool thing was that these summons did not "go" anywhere when they were dismissed, they simply popped out of existence until called upon again, and it did not matter what dimension you were in, you could still call upon them. Naruto focused for a moment before a dark orange metal rod materialized in his hand.

The Creation of All Things ability actually came somewhat easy for him, since it involved creating things with your will, and very few had a willpower that could match Naruto's. A few of his limitations were the fact that he had to be careful about creating thinking beings, because again, that would not only drain his reserves close to dry, but his life force would also be tapped as well, and he had to have at least a basic understanding of how something worked. Because he had dealt with Nagato's chakra receiver rods before, and read a little on the same general things in this dimension. He even figured out how to make them come out any color he wanted, instead of black. Felix had shaken his head and muttered, "figures," when he first saw Naruto make an orange rod.

When you were actually creating a creature, you still had to understand a bit about how its body works, though that is much easier if you simply channel the chakra into genetic material, since DNA held the "blueprint" of the body, hence the fact Naruto was currently cultivating hydra scales into an organism. He had also added some of Alex's blood to the creature he was growing, in order to add his Kekkei Genkai to it, one of the things that could be done with Animal Path. If this worked the way Naruto wanted it to, he would have a many headed giant serpent with acidic blood that it could control in the same way as a Chihanshu could, and would regenerate two heads every time one was removed.

He was in fact already halfway done with another of his summons, a dragon he was cultivating from Vargon's scales, and some blood given by Felix, the end result hopefully being a dragon that could use any elemental breath, not just a single one it was born with. Naruto stuck a rod in the piece of flesh that looked similar to an embryo, before turning to the half grown dragon.

"Two more days before you're done," he said to the form. I wonder what else I could make to make old Nagato eat his heart out?"

…..

"Hey Duck-Butt Sensei, we're back!" Akari shouted as her team entered the hotel room in a different building than Zabuza's team was.

When they heard a simple "hnn" in response, Daisuke said, "We'd better stock some provisions, there is no telling what amount of time the survival portion of the test is going to be set in."

"Way ahead of you," Akari said as she pulled out a scroll and unsealed a cooler large enough for two people to fit in. "Since I can't eat ramen all the time, I made sure that I had a few of my Wood Clones go shopping for us before the stores closed down for the night. And I brought this baby from Konoha and put a bunch of water in the freezer, so we could have plenty of ice to keep some provisions cool for a while, so we don't have to eat nasty ration bars either."

"I hear you, those things belong in the T&I department, if they fed those to prisoners, we'd have all the intel we could ever need," Daisuke shuddered. "I swear, the day I find the civilian who designed those for shinobi, I will get a hundred bars and force feed them to him."

"And if it's a woman?" Kiyoshi asked.

"I'm very equality-minded, so yes, her as well** (A/N: I borrowed that joke from a Halo book)**."

"Hey, where the hell is all of my ice?" Akari asked in irritation as she found the freezer empty.

"I kind of used it," Sasuke groaned from the room. "I am currently covering all the parts of my body that hurt right now."

"I made enough to cover your entire body!" Akari shouted as she went into the room. Sure enough, there was Sasuke, buried under a lot of ice.

"Exactly," Sasuke muttered as he got into a sitting position, looking like a walking bruise. "I-."

"Hold that thought," Akari said as she left the room. Daisuke and Kiyoshi instantly took out ryo bills, having heard that Sasuke had gotten himself beat up. Akari also took some of hers out too.

"He got carried away training," Daisuke bet.

"He got into a fight with another jonin, or some equivalent number of lower ranks," Kiyoshi wagered.

"You're both wrong, he likely pissed off Sakura somehow," Akari gambled. They all shook on the bets, and they went into Sasuke's room. "So what were you saying Sensei?" Akari asked.

Sasuke sighed as he said, "Sakura was not very happy that I left for the exams without her and she made that quite clear." Sasuke then sweat dropped as he saw Daisuke and Kiyoshi hand Akari their money.

"Guess I had better put more water in the freezer," Akari said with a satisfied giggle. "In the meantime, you two seal away anything that will keep on its own in these," she handed them a bunch of scrolls.

"Got it," Daisuke replied. He held them in his arms and asked, "Got enough for a month long trip or something?" Then one of the scrolls fell out of his arms and caused Akari to trip. Instantly, Daisuke dropped the ones he was holding and managed to catch her by wrapping an arm around her before she could crash to the ground. "You all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she fully settled back onto her feet. Their eyes met for a second before they blushed a bit and quickly returned to their tasks.

…

"Good job," Gaara was telling Matsuri as she started sealing provisions for her team for the next part of the exam.

"On what, Gaara-Sensei?" Matsuri asked.

"Getting past the first part of the exam," Gaara replied. "I hope you make chunin, so I no longer have to fill the shoes of your sensei."

Matsuri looked hurt for a moment before she asked, "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Not at all. In fact, the reason I have not gotten closer to you is because it is considered… unprofessional for a sensei and student to have feelings for one another, even if they are close to the same age. I want to be able to show my feelings for you without raising a few eyebrows."

"I see, but since when did you care about what the main populace thought?"

"Since I had a Bijuu sealed within me and had to fight so hard to gain the respect I now have. I do not wish to give the villagers reason to mistrust me again. It would also harm your reputation if we were to start going out while we were supposed to have a student-teacher relationship and nothing more."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So I had better make the rank then, haven't I?"

"Do not worry, I know you have it in you."

…

"Oh yeah, I cannot wait to be a chunin!" Konohamaru exclaimed happily, irritating his pink haired sensei. "I'm going to take one giant step towards my goal of being Hokage, and I will impress Akari!"

"Why's that important to ya?" Udon asked, and Konohamaru went a little pink.

"Ah, well, she is one of my rivals and my pranking partner, so I honestly want her to admire me," he replied a little bashfully.

"Ahhhh, I think someone's got a crush," Moegi said, causing Sakura to snigger and Konohamaru to face fault.

"No I don't have a crush on her, what, are you stupid?! She's the younger sister of the guy who taught me most of what I know! That's just gross!" Konohamaru frantically said in denial. It was pretty obvious he was just trying to save face, and that he really did have feelings for her. But that was suddenly not the immediate issue as the hapless Sarutobi felt Sakura's killing intent.

"What was that, Brat?" she asked, cracking her knuckles as she approached the scared shitless boy. "Are you saying that I did not teach you all that much?"

"Uh, um, I er, said "guy" who taught me the most, nothing about "girls," eh heh heh," Konohamaru managed to say. Swing and a miss.

The boy began screaming as Sakura pummeled him, and Udon and Moegi were suddenly nowhere to be found (smart kids).

…

"Is everyone here?" Temari asked the teams next morning outside of training grounds 13 at 5:55. "Good, since we have all 42 teams, let me go over the rules for this exam! First, you see behind me training grounds 13, also called, The Labyrinth."

The teams looked at the solid wall that enclosed the training grounds. Shikamaru then said, "Yep, what is in there is a rather-,"

"Say troublesome and I'll make sure you suffer so bad you will think what I did to you yesterday was a relaxing massage," Temari threatened, causing all of the genin to sweat drop and Konohamaru to wince in sympathy for the Nara.

"Alright fine. As you all likely guessed is in there is a rather _bothersome_ maze about twice the size of another particular training grounds the Forest of Death, which is rather famous in Konoha."

Temari twitched at the "bothersome" statement, but decided to let it slide. "There are 50 entrances to the Labyrinth, and each team will be going into a different one. Your mission: To get to the building in the center of the maze, built next to an oasis. Here's the catch though. You need to have these." She pulled out three scrolls, one with the kanji for rain, another having the kanji for sun, and the final one being of sand. "Originally, we were going to do just two different scrolls, the same as is usually done, but when this many teams pass, we add a third scroll."

"So how do we get the scrolls then?" one of the genin asked.

"Easy. There are 42 teams here, so that, divided by three, is 14. So that means we will be randomly giving 14 teams a sand scroll, 14 a sun scroll, and the remaining 14 a rain scroll. That means that you will have to take scrolls from each other in there before you make it to the center. So at most, fourteen teams will pass." She proceeded to explain the rest of the rules to the teams, which were similar to the ones in the same exam in Konoha. She also warned them that the top of the maze was shielded by a barrier jutsu, so that any attempt to travel the mave from atop the twenty foot walls would be ill-advised. "Also, we will be giving you seven sets of these, "Temari continued as she showed them six stacks of paper. "Each piece of paper is one sixth of the map, so that means there will be seven maps in all for you. These are not needed to pass the exam like the scrolls are, but they are also important if you want to navigate the maze effectively.

"Any questions?" she finished. When none were forthcoming, the materials were handed out, the forms were signed, and each team was moved to a different entrance.

"Odd," Shikamaru muttered as he looked at the assorted teams. "There seem to be about 11 Iwa teams in this part of the exams, even more than Suna's ten. Did they collaborate on something to get through the first exam? This could be troublesome."

….

"Looks like we got a southern portion of the map while we are going in through a northern entrance," Akari mused as she and her teammates looked intently at the map. From what they could tell, there were several narrow corridors that only one person at a time could go through, and a few others that were much wider. "So we will have to have other ways to navigate, at least for now."

"Yo," Shikamaru said as he appeared in a shunshin.

"Hey, what are you doing here you lazy bum?" Akari asked.

"Just thought I would let you guys know, there seem to be quite a few Iwa nin in these exams, and I don't think I need to tell you guys why that would worry me," the Nara said, and Akari, Daisuke and Kiyoshi nodded.

"We'll be careful," Daisuke promised as a large bell went off and the gate to the Labyrinth opened, allowing the three genin to dash into the setting for the second exam.

**Omake: Top three NaruHina moments Isaac ruined #2**

"And here we are," Naruto said one night as he and Hinata were enjoying a starlit stroll on the wall of the Yoshoryuu's clan compound. "One of the most clear nights you will ever find."

"Hopefully Isaac is asleep by now," Hinata said, and Naruto shuddered.

"I know, he just seems to love to mess with us. And he seems to have some kind of ninth sense on when we are alone together."

"What are seven and eight?"

"You don't want to know," Naruto deadpanned and Hinata giggled. That was before a glop of bird poop landed on her shoulder.

"Just great," Naruto moaned. "The one time we are safe from Isaac, the bird bother us," he muttered as he took a rag from his pocket and wiped the excretion off of her as she shuddered in disgust. And then more bird poop rained down on them.

"Eek!" Hinata shrieked as Naruto hastily took off his jacket and use i sort of cover to shield him and Hinata.

"What the hell!?" Naruto demanded as he looked up to see a lot of birds blotting out the sky, all of them aiming to poop on them.

"Kami, I love Animation Seals," Isaac said, and the two turned to see him sitting on the edge of the wall, taking photos of their predicament. Naruto seethed as he realized what Isaac was talking about. An Animation seal was something you used on anything that resembled a living creature, and it turned that item into actual flesh and blood, though they were just like robots that just did whatever you programmed into the seal instead of an actual living creature with a soul. It was obvious what Isaac had done.

"You know, next date, you two should go out for dinner. Might I recommend the Duck a l'o SPLAT? Or maybe some Chicken Bombs?" he laughed at his own wit.

"Oh that's a great idea," Naruto snarled. "And for the entertainment, we can have a Rasengan shoved up the ass of a stupid Triclops!"

"Were are you gonna get… Waaaaaiiiiiiit a miiiiiinnnuuuuutteee…" Isaac trailed off as he saw Naruto form a Rasengan, before the barely sane man ran for it.

**A/N: Yeah, next chapter, we get to see some major ass kicking! (Grabs popcorn and starts to eat it, before looking at Naruto, who was seemingly waiting for something)… What? No I ain't gonna share! If you want popcorn for when Akari, Daisuke, and Kiyoshi bust those Iwa moron's thick skulls open, then go get your own! Mine! MINE! **

**(Naruto glares darkly before taking out a kunai) Really, because after all the ungodly times you made me fight Drakmus and have such dark plans to have me fight other ungodly powerful OC's, a little popcorn is too much to ask? Fine, guess it's time I paid you back for the time you had Drakmus BREAK MY FREAKING BACK OVER HIS FREAKING KNEE!**

**…Eh-heh, you do realize I was just joking, right Naruto? And in my defense, you did heal from that right away…Naruto? Oh, dear Kami, please put the kunai down, you can have the popcorn! (Screams in pain for the next five minutes as Naruto beats the living hell out of me. Audience sweat drops)**

**(Comes back on stage in similar state to Shikamaru and Sasuke) Good golly, I should remove one of the other Animal Path summons idea I had for him for that… (What was that?!) Er, I mean I am going to make it up to you by giving you another ridiculously powerful summon creature! (That's what I thought!)**

** Please Read and Review! I need something to help me recover from that ill advised bout with the main character!**


	51. Chapter 50: Iwa Genin Conspiracy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: One thing I wanted to let you all know about Alex's age, it was a typo, he is not 16, he is 26, I missed the 2 key and hit the 1 key by mistake. I'm going to fix that soon.**

**So the chunin exams continue, let's see where they go! Can't wait to see what your reactions all are to Genyumaru and Kin's abilities, because this chapter will give a sneak peek.**

**Chapter 50: Iwa Genin Conspiracy**

"All right, we go to the center right away!" Haku shouted as his team dashed through the gateway of the entrance they had been picked for. His teammates both nodded in agreement. Even if they did not yet have all three scrolls, there was no doubt that other teams were already on their own way to the oasis in the labyrinth.

"Let me test something," Genyumaru said as he pulled out a scroll and unsealed a large spiked ball and chain made of chakra conducting metal. The spiked ball was twice the size of his head, and the chain was about twenty feet long. He channeled his wind chakra into the tool, coating the spike ball in the largest amount of chakra, and he spun the ball over his head at a speed that made it into a blur, before launching it at a wall. It smashed into said wall and caused the environment around them to shake a little violently.

When the dust cleared, Genyumaru gave a whoop of joy. His weapon had blasted right through the wall, despite the fact that there was about two feet of solid rock first of all, before it was centered with a about a foot and a half of steel, before another two feet of rock.

"Remind me never to get hit with that thing," Haku said, as he assessed the damage and the strength of the wall. He had seen what that weapon could do once and only once before, and that was on the one B Rank mission they had been able to get Zabuza to secure for them, despite their rank as genin. They had ended up fighting a few shinobi level foes, one of them being arguably chunin level, and the team had easily beaten the enemies. Genyumaru had single handedly defeated the chunin level leader and five of his subordinates with that oversized weapon of destructive overkill as Kin called it, and there was not much left of the six enemies after one hit for each of them. And Genyumaru was very good at hitting things with it and could swing it fast enough to give even high level chunin trouble dodging it. The weapon took full advantage of Genyumaru's enhanced strength and his skills at close to mid range combat. Anything other than long range combat against him was an exceedingly bad idea.

"With this, we can blast our way through to the center of the maze!" Genyumaru said jubilantly.

"And set off every trap that Temari lady warned us about along the way," Kin deadpanned. "And the fact that you could let half the competition know we are here with the racket you just made. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that the sun is still beating down on us, even if there is a barrier that keeps us from going to the top of the walls, so you could get a stroke if you keep doing that."

"Point taken, but if we do attract some foes to us, we can take them, even if they try a surprise attack," Genyumaru replied. "Plus, we'll be a good distance away from any trap I set off blasting through walls with this, and I can use my wind affinity chakra to cool the air around me to prevent the stroke, so as long as I don't overexert, I'll be fine."

"And it's true that we can handle pretty much any team in here, with the possible exception of Sasuke-san's," Haku said. "And even if they try an ambush, I have enough experience with those after being on the run with Zabuza-Sensei to spot most they could try, and even if they use genjutsu, that is your area of expertise, right Kin?"

"When you put it like that, it does make good sense," Kin mused. "We can be the first ones to the oasis easy and we can take the scrolls of any team foolish enough to bring them to us. The only other problem I can see is that we will make a path straight to the oasis that any team could take and potentially increase the competition."

"Not if we let them take that path, only to ambush them," Genyumaru mused, and Haku nodded. The prospect of an easy trail blazed by another team would be appealing for most inexperienced chunin hopefuls and that alone would serve to help bring opponents to an ambush area. Five days in the maze should be more than enough to get the scrolls they needed and get to the goal.

"Alright, just don't bust through every time we encounter a dead end," Kin said. "We don't want to exhaust our strongest team member when it comes to straight up combat before we even face a team. Even someone with endurance and strength like yours has their limits."

…

"Did you hear something?" Konohamaru asked his two minio- er, teammates as they took a left turn and hastily backed up to avoid a net shot out of the wall. Anyone without good reflexes would have had to either cut their way out, of wait for someone to get them out of that thing.

"Sounded like something hit something else with a lot of force," Moegi said. "Or maybe a big explosion."

"Maybe someone is trying to blast their way through the maze," Udon said. Konohamaru rubbed his chin thoughtfully before he took out an exploding tag and set it against a wall. They quickly ran around the corner and covered their ears as it went off. Then they looked back around the corner, and the group's leader cursed as he saw the wall was only gouged about half a foot of the way in by the explosion. After a few more tags were used, they reached the steel center.

"If anyone succeeded in getting through THAT in one shot," Konohamaru mused. "Then we had better avoid them, at least in a direct confrontation, or unless they wore themselves out. Since we don't have enough tags to blast our way through ourselves, we are just going to have to take all the turns the old fashioned way. Lucky we got the map fragment that showed us where we were right away."

"What about the jutsu that Akari helped you learn, before she got her team?" Moegi asked, but Konohamaru shook his head. **(A/N: Hint, it's a jutsu he had already learned in the previous timeline, but he had another teacher for it then. I believe that it is obvious, but don't worry, he will not use it that often, nor will Akari) **

"That would probably take at least two shots to get through a wall, maybe one to get through the rest of the way on this one, depending on how thick the steel part is, and I can only put out about two a day, three if I conserved my chakra just for that purpose without using too many of my other jutsu, and besides, I am only supposed to use it when I am backed into a corner."

"So what do we do?" Udon asked, and Konohamaru grinned.

"Isn't it obvious? We just find a spot other teams are more likely to pass through, preferably as close to the oasis in the center of the maze as possible, and then we use our specialty in making traps to get our scrolls."

"Sounds like a good idea," Moegi said.

…

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Akari shouted and four clones came into being as the young Namikaze's team came to a spot with four turns. Akari nodded to her clones and each one shot down a different turn.

"That jutsu is really good for scouting isn't it?" Daisuke said. "Remind me to ask you to teach it to me, it may come in hand for decoys, kind of like what you did with our scrolls." In order to keep other teams from getting their hands on their own sun scroll, they had made several fakes of not only that scroll, but of the other two needed scrolls as well. Daisuke carried the real sun scroll.

"Why didn't you just make Wood Clones?" Kiyoshi asked. "They are more durable, and cost less chakra to make right?"

"That makes them more practical for combat yes," Akari replied. "But I kind of want the memory feedback of the Shadow Clones to let us know what's up ahead. For now, we can just kick back here until they send me information on the four T's I am looking for. It's not like we are in a hurry yet, we do have five days after all."

"Four T's?" Daisuke asked, confused.

"Twists, Turns, Traps and Teams," Akari replied, and Daisuke snorted. "In the meantime, as I said, we can relax here until the intel comes back, but first," she said as she made five Wood Clones and had them get to work setting traps at the locations foes could come through, as well as keep lookout. Her team would still have their guards up naturally, but this would give them some room to rest without as much of a risk.

The young Namikaze then unsealed her cooler and took out some cold drinks. "Soda anyone?"

…

**(A/N: OST Ripple plays)**

About three hours after the exam started, a team from Kiri walked cautiously though the hole that some other team had blasted through the wall. Though they were wary of someone who could do that, they had reasoned that the effort would likely tire out the person who could accomplish such a task, and if his or her teammates and they were good at much else, they would already be chunin by now. Eventually, they came to a very sloppily made trap with ninja wire set up as a tripwire, obviously to slow down any pursuit of the team who made the trap. A quick look around showed no one around and that the wire was set to an exploding tag. There was noise and they turned hastily to see that some wind chimes that looked like they had been there for a while were the cause. The Kiri team deduced that it was some kind of old decoration designed to make noise and put those taking the exam on edge

"Heh, looks like these guys we are following are all brawn and no brain," the leader of the Kiri team said as he cut the tripwire. Only for the released tension to release several other tripwires that were hidden by a genjutsu and drop a net made of ninja wire down on all three of them.

"What the?" one of them shouted as he channeled some chakra into his hands, forming chakra scalpels to try to cut his way free. He was obviously a medic ninja for the team, though the scalpels were pretty poorly made. He may still have been able to cut the team loose if he had been given about ten seconds. He did not even get one.

"Lightning Style: Livewire Jutsu!" a female's voice shouted, and lightning chakra ran from a wire that the voice's owner to the net it was connected to, giving the Kiri ninja a devastating shock. As they all slumped unconscious, Kin shimmered into view, and all other false images faded, including the wear on the wind chimes put there to keep them from seeming too out of place. She had a wire attached to those as well, which was how she had cast the sound based genjutsu that hid her and the other wires, and created the fake exploding tag. Hook, line and sinker.

"Nice one," Genyumaru said as he came out of the hole he had made in the next wall, followed by Haku. They had hidden on the other side of the wall they had made the path through, so if Kin's trap failed and she got into trouble, they would be able to help her. It had clearly not been necessary.

"Let's see what scroll they have," Haku said as he rummaged through the bag of the leader of the downed team. "Ah, a rain scroll, now all we need is a sun scroll."

"The map fragment they have is actually the same as ours though," Kin said, and Genyumaru chucked.

"Who cares?" he asked. "Since we can just blast our way through the walls if we need to, we don't need to navigate much."

After tying the opposing team up and taking the extra map fragment, in case they needed to barter, they headed deeper into the maze.

…..

"Ha ha ha, we got you!" Konohamaru shouted in glee at the Kusa team they had caught in the net. "The trap they had used was an obvious one that fired darts that the enemy was to assume were poison tipped, though they actually weren't since they were just a red herring, and upon avoiding that trap, they ran into a pitfall one that was a little less obvious, but they were still also meant to know that was there too, since any ninja worth their salt could tell that the first trap was a diversion, but then they fouled up at the third trap, which was the one the cursing team was caught in right there and then.

"Damn, we could tell that the first two were a trap within a trap, but we did not spot the last one," one of the genin said.

"That's a little obvious," Udon said a little smugly, earning a glare from one of the other genin. The leader sighed.

"Since it's clear you have us at our mercy, here is our scroll and map fragment," he said as he managed to dig them out of his pouch with a little bit of effort, considering the tight spot he was in.

"Nice, a sand scroll was one of the ones we needed," Konohamaru said as the scroll was handed to him. But as Konohamaru's team left, the scroll exploded, blasting the poor genin and his team into the wall. The Kusa team managed to cut themselves down at that point.

"Honestly, you are better at setting traps then you are at seeing them," the leader said, before the three members of Konohamaru's team disappeared in a burst of smoke.

"Wanna bet?" an irritated Konohamaru and two Shadow Clones of him said from behind the three surprised enemy genin before they delivered swift blows to the back of their necks. The Kusa team fell, only the leader staying conscious, but unable to do anything as a Shadow Clone held a kunai to his neck. "Cool trick huh? I made sure that I had made a few clones ahead of time in case you tried anything funny or actually escaped our trap, and had two of them transform into my teammates. Last chance to hand the real scroll over, or things will get messy."

The Kusa genin cursed again before he handed the real scroll over this time, and let Konohamaru and his teammates truss him and the other two Kusa nin up.

"He he, was that really so hard?" Konohamaru sarcastically asked the genin team, before he left with Udon and Moegi slapping him high fives.

"Let us take the next team instead of just assisting with the trap making, kay?" Moegi asked, and Konohamaru nodded in agreement.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…...

"One more clone to go before we choose our path," Akari said. The first few clones had not given the red head any interesting news, just one that had found nothing but dead ends and a few non lethal but still inconvenient if you were caught in them traps, the second having found a few ways deeper into the center and locating a team from Sand and poofing out before being spotted by said team, and the final one, which had found a team from Kumo, that looked a little exhausted, but satisfied, which may have meant that they had run into another team and gotten one of the needed scrolls. So far, the latter way was obviously the most attractive option, since a needed scroll for their team was almost guaranteed.

"Maybe you should just dispel the last clone now so we can go after that Kumo team before they get too much distance on us," Daisuke suggested, and Kiyoshi nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you are probably ri-," Akari said, before her eyes widened. The last clone had clearly dispelled itself. "Uh, guys, I think we have four teams from Iwa headed our way. They seem to have at least one sensory type with them, because they seem to know where we are, and they also seem to have agreed to work together before the exam even began. That sensory type I mentioned was likely how they located each other," she finished.

"Well then we need to get ready for them," Daisuke said and Kiyoshi quickly set to work setting traps.

…..

**(A/N: OST Bad Situation plays)**

"Huh, interesting, it seems that you Iwa teams are all in this together. I'm guessing you all made sure to give each other the code word from the first exam," Haku said as the two Iwa teams they ran into surrounded them in the rounded area of the maze they had come out on. Before the Yuki could continue any further, the Iwa genin all assaulted Haku and his team from all sides with several earth jutsus and weapons from a distance.

"That ambush actually worked quite well," one of them chortled at the smoke cloud before he felt a few senbon at his neck with Kin behind him looking a little ticked.

"Not really," she said as the smoke cleared to show several ice fragments on the ground where the Leaf genin had supposedly been. "You only hit copies of us made of ice. Haku sensed something amiss long ago."

The other five Iwa genin quickly got over their surprise and they all rushed to attack Kin, but were stopped by Genyumaru, who had his chief weapon and swung it, not actually intending to hit, but instead to herd the five genin close together. Into a trap. Sure enough, they all backed away into where Haku had been gathering chakra.

"Hey, does it feel a little cold to you?" one of the Iwa genin asked, and the others shared his apprehension, considering that it should be baking under the sun. Before they could muse further, all five of the Iwa nin found themselves enclosed in a dome of ice mirrors, an image of Haku in each one.

"Looks like your teammates are out," Kin said, pricking the neck of her hostage with one of her truth serum laced senbon. "So tell me, what are you guys after that compels you to work as a large group?"

"We collaborated to take out the Namikaze girl, and make the Yondaime pay for all of our soldiers he killed during the Third War," the genin found himself admitting. "And we also decided to take out any other of you damn leaf genin we could as well. The exam is secondary to us."

"I see, "Kin said, strongly tempted to slit the guy's throat to keep him from being any more trouble. Deciding that Haku would disapprove of unneeded bloodshed, she instead pricked him with a senbon laced with a fast acting ticket to Dreamland. Sure enough, the genin was asleep in ten seconds.

She looked up to see the other five Iwa genin crying out as they were assaulted on all sides by Haku's speed and senbon. A few had tried to raise a barrier made of rock, which worked at first, until Genyumaru walked into the ice dome and tore the barrier down. Soon enough, the entire Iwa team had been incapacitated.

"Rats, neither one had a sun scroll," Kin cursed as she checked both of their team's leaders. They were now stuck with two rain and two sand scrolls.

"What should we do with them?" Genyumaru asked.

"They won't be in any shape to do anything by the time the exams are done," Haku said. "So we can just leave them and let anyone else who comes across them do what they please."

…..

"Just up ahead," one Iwa genin told his eleven comrades. "They seem to be waiting for us."

"So they have a few traps to spring then," one of the team leaders said. He and two other genin made a few Mud Clones each, and the clones charged into the clearing. Sure enough, they were quickly decimated by a sleuth of traps, including a few that shot wooden stakes, a pitfall with exploding tags at the bottom, and a few thorned nets with toxins on each thorn.

The twelve Iwa genin than went in themselves once they were sure they had tripped all of the traps. To their surprise, they found a few trees in areas they could not see from the corridor they had been in. and one booby trap had not yet been set off. Once a tripwire had been stepped on by one genin, it released a long whip like branch that was also hidden at shin level, and struck five of the Iwa nin in the legs, snapping the shin bones of two of them, and just causing the other three to take a humiliating spill.

The other seven threw a few shuriken and kunai into the trees, only hitting a few random branches and the wall of the maze, before Daisuke shot out of hiding and threw a net made of ninja wire at the group. Only two got caught, but Daisuke did not complain, he just cast a few signs. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" he shouted as the wires he had attached to the net took the fire chakra and headed for the trapped genin. Before the panicked ninja could burn, Daisuke was forced to abandon his attempt as another genin rushed him with a kunai. Daisuke jumped back at a fast speed and whipped out both of his katanas and found himself on the defensive as two Iwa genin assaulted him with their weapons and a few close combat earth jutsu. He did not stay on the defensive for long as he dove between them, faster than they could trace, and hamstrung both of them without even turning his head to look where he was cutting. He did not need to.

Akari meanwhile attacked the two Iwa genin caught in the net before they could get all the way free. One was knocked out when she made a wooden staff and slammed one end onto the back of her head. The other she incapacitated by stomping as hard as she could on his crotch. Kiyoshi, who was still hidden, winced in sympathy. That was one of Akari's favorite targets

Another Iwa genin, this one with a lightning affinity, jumped down to attack Daisuke with a lightning chakra laced blade, but Daisuke was too fast to get caught like that. Sidestepping and causing the Iwa genin to stab into the branch they were on, he swung his katanas at his foe and struck non lethal blows to incapacitate. Instead, the genin burst into a jolt of electricity, showing to be a clone made of lightning chakra. Daisuke was blasted by the shock, and fell to his knees, helpless as a lightning laced kunai flew towards the back of his neck. It was stopped however when a small crossbow bolt also laced with lightning chakra intercepted the kunai and deflected it. Before the Iwa genin who threw it could react, another bolt caught him in the neck, severing his jugular vein, and causing him to fall out of the branch as he bled to death.

"Thanks Kiyoshi," Daisuke panted as his teammate landed on the branch next to him, reloading his one-handed crossbow. This weapon of Kiyoshi's held two bolts at a time, one fired after the other, and the second bolt hidden within the bow itself. The idea was to fire one, and if that failed, the enemy might attack, thinking you would need to reload your weapon, only to fall right into the trap of the second bolt.

**(A/N: End OST)**

The three genin who had been tripped by the earlier branch but could still walk all charged Akari, one of them making five Mud Clones, and were backed up by the other two genin who could still fight. It seemed like ten on one at first, but two monkeys that were about two and a half feet tall fell out of the branches fell on top of two Iwa genin, one of them being the original of the Mud Clones. The monkeys wore wooden plates tied together for armor, and wielded a dagger in each hand as well as one with their tails. The Iwa genin both screamed as the one without the clones was stabbed in the extremities, while the one with clones had his throat slit ruthlessly to dispel his clones.

**(A/N: OST Sarutobi plays)**

Akari then whirled in a blur as she struck at her remaining three opponents with her staff. One of the genin was able to block one end, but Akari channeled her wood style chakra into the staff, and a spike shot out and impaled the genin through his shoulder, causing him to stumble back. The other two tried to attack her from behind, one of them using armor made of stone, but the latter was impaled through the back of his knee by one of Kiyoshi's lightning laced bolts, and the other was hit in the back by some shuriken thrown by Dasiuke.

"I could have gotten those you know!" Akari shouted up at her teammates as both of the last genin foes fell.

"Just trying to expedite things a little," Daisuke shouted back down.

Further banter was cut off when the genin Kiyoshi had shot through the knee shouted from the ground, "Earth Style: Stone Shackles!" The rock beneath Akari's feet rose up and encased her legs. She burst free by channeling chakra to her feet to blast the rock away and knocked the genin out with a blow from her staff, but was then trapped in a Full Nelson by the genin whose shoulder she had impaled, clearly not severely enough to limit the use of his arm.

Meanwhile, one of the genin that Daisuke had hamstrung had managed to avoid going into shock and threw several kunai and shuriken at the momentarily trapped Akari. Daisuke knew that she would get free, but not on time to avoid the weapons. He pulled out his own kunai out his pouch desperately, not sure his accuracy would be as good as Kiyoshi's with thrown weapons, but to his surprise, the weapons thrown by the Iwa genin seemed to slow, along with the world around them. Wasting no time, Daisuke hurled his own weapons and knocked all of the Iwa genin's out of the air.

Kiyoshi looked in amazement at Daisuke for having pulled off such a hastily made maneuver, and was even more surprised when he saw that Daisuke's eyes had gone from solid onyx colored to an active Sharingan with two tomoe in each eye.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: Sorry for those of you who were expecting to see the last Omake in this chapter, but I intend to put it in next chapter instead. Hope you all look forward to it and Akari finishing laying the smack down. **

**Please Read and Review!**


	52. Chapter 51: In a Month…

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: What, only 5 reviews for the last chapter? T-T… I must be losing my touch.**

**Time to wrap up the second exam and move on to the third one, or at least move on to the setup for it.**

**Chapter 51: In a Month…**

"Thanks, Daisuke!" Akari shouted as she flung the genin holding her off and kicked him in the gut. The remaining genin with injuries but still wanted to fight were quickly dispatched. In the end, only 2 of the 12 Iwa were killed, the one who had his throat slit by one of Akari's monkeys and the one who got shot in the neck by Kiyoshi. Akari looked a little sick, but was able to hold her revulsion in check. She and her team had killed a few bandits before, and even before then, while she was under Sasuke's private tutelage, he had used Tsukuyomi on her to run her through countless battle scenarios, and even forced her to kill within the illusion on more than one occasion.

She could tell that he hated to be harsh like that, but she had needed to be disillusioned to ensure that the first time she took a life for real, she would not freeze up when there was a very real possibility that she would face other foes. In fact, she had it easy that she could almost experience the reality within one of the most realistic genjutsu the shinobi world had to offer, so she could be prepared.

"What were you guys doing, ganging up on us like that?" Daisuke asked in annoyance, glaring at one of the lead genin with his Sharingan.

"We were after the Namikaze wench," the genin said, and got kicked hard in the crotch by a ticked off Akari. Both Daisuke and Kiyoshi covered their own nether regions in fear.

"Who do you think you are calling a wench, eh?" Akari demanded in a rage. "And what were you after me for, were you trying to capture me so you could bring my Kekkei Genkai to Iwa? Because your Tsuchikage has a treaty with us after what happened two years ago with Orochimaru's invasion!"

The wheezing genin only chuckled. "You little brat, we don't care about your bloodline, nor do we care what Onoki thinks, he has lost his pride. If you ask me, he won't be Tsuchikage for much longer."

"Then what was your purpose in teaming up just to attack us?" Akari once again demanded.

"Revenge," the Iwa genin said. "That bastard of a father you have killed so many of our country's best men and cost us the war. In fact, my own father killed himself several years after the death of his sister."

Daisuke walked up to the genin and kicked him hard in the face, knocking loose a few teeth and breaking his nose. "Get the hell over it," he said coolly. "Nothing you do can change the past you know. Trying to kill Akari over it won't make anyone less dead, and will only cause more people looking to take an eye for an eye. My own father was killed by Sound ninja, and you don't see me dwelling on it."

"I was not dwelling on it," the Iwa genin replied snidely. "I merely saw a chance for vengeance and tried to take it, same as most of my comrades. You say that you have no desire to go after the remaining Sound ninja for what they did to your father, but do you really think if one crossed your path, you would let it go?"

"Like I said, if I did kill that ninja out of spite, it would not do squat for the people they killed."

"But you can't deny that there would be say… a flash of anger? A desire to kill, regardless of whether anyone would benefit from it or not? You can't deny that it would give you some satisfaction, passing judgment on the one who made you suffer because of the death of someone you cared for. But you are free to believe what you want."

Daisuke spat in irritation. "Just shut up and stay put," he said as his teammates finished tying up the remaining Iwa genin. They looked at the scrolls the teams had. The four teams had eight scrolls in all, so they had clearly ganged up on a few other teams. Adding those scrolls to their own, they had three of each in the end. They also had a map that was only missing one fragment.

"Let's get to the oasis before any more teams from Iwa find us," Kiyoshi advised and Akari nodded in response.

…

**(A/N: OST Glued State plays)**

"Udon hit the deck!" Konohamaru shouted frantically to his friend as an Iwa genin threw several shuriken at him. Udon was able to duck out of the way of several weapons, but one of them tagged him on the shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain and fall backwards. The Iwa nin he had been fighting immediately tried to follow up, but Udon recovered quickly enough to roll away from the genin's fresh assault and threw his kunai, catching his foe right in the temple, killing him instantly. While Udon's abilities with either ninjutsu or genjutsu were nothing to rely on, his taijutsu was well above average, and he had a very good aim with thrown weapons, due to his ability to think rather fast and on his feet.

Konohamaru dodged backwards as another clod of stone was thrown at him, and he ducked under a swing from a foe's kunai before using a sweeping kick to take the genin's legs from under her, and throwing a tagged kunai at two others that were trying to take Moegi from behind as she held her own against two in front of her. Things had been going well for Konohamaru's team as they made their way to the center, but they had been ambushed by three teams of Iwa genin as they made their way through the maze. If it had not been for the young Sarutobi's Shadow Clone springing the trap the genin had set, the three Konoha ninja would already be dead.

Konohamaru's tagged kunai exploded, blasting one of the Iwa ninja full on and flinging him back into the other genin who had tried to flank Moegi, covered in burns and unconscious. _"That's one dead, another out cold, and seven still able to fight, and already Udon is injured and Moegi is having trouble. Three are after her now, and I have to deal with two, while two more are attacking Udon," _Konohamaru thought frantically as one of the genin who had a water element was launching several small waves to try to catch Konohamaru off his feet, so his teammate could kill the young Leaf ninja while he was down. Obviously, Konohamaru was not cooperating and was able to jump away from one water style jutsu, though the drawback was that he fell right into a tangle with the other genin attacking him, though that put him inside the reach of the opponent's kunai.

For a moment, they struggled on the ground, Konohamaru having a hold of the wrist of his opponent's kunai arm, before the water style genin threw several shuriken and kunai at Konohamaru, who saw them coming and put his foe in a better hold before rolling, so the genin was between him and the projectiles, effectively acting as a meat shield. It worked like a charm if the genin's screams of pain were anything to judge by.

Meanwhile, Udon had grabbed the arm of one of his attackers before said attacker could stab him with a kunai, and kicked the genin in the gut as hard as he could while still holding the arm. The result was a loud snap as the genin's shoulder was forcefully dislocated, and the genin was trying to scream in pain, but was unable to with the wind knocked out of him like that. Udon's other foe immediately tried to cast some signs for a genjutsu, but Udon had taken the kunai from his downed opponent in the same motion as his attack, and threw the weapon at the Iwa ninja, impaling her through one of her hands, and stopping her attempt.

Before either Konohamaru or Udon could finish off their remaining foes, Moegi gave a small scream of pain as the foe Konohamaru had stalled before hit her in the back with two thrown shuriken. Though the weapons did not go deep, they did leave her open for further attack from her other opponents. "Moegi!" both of her male teammates cried out as they tried to go to her aid. Konohamaru was faster, whipping through hand seals as he went.

"Fire Style: Fire Arrow Jutsu!" Konohamaru shouted as he exhaled violently, sending flames in the shape of an arrow at the foe closest to Moegi. The fire arrow impaled the Iwa genin through the side of his chest, causing him to scream in agony before going limp. The other genin was taken in his calf by a kunai thrown by Udon, causing him to fall short of hitting Moegi with his short sword. Unfortunately, this gave Udon no chance to counter as he was caught in a genjutsu cast by the genin he had stopped before. She had him tied down to the ground, unable to move in either the genjutsu or reality.

Konohamaru fixed that with another exploding kunai at the genjutsu using kunoichi, forcing her to break her attack to dodge. "Stop, or she dies!" the Iwa genin who had tagged Moegi with shuriken demanded as he held her in a chokehold, a kunai held at her neck. "Get on your knees and roll your scrolls over to me now!" He dug the kunai into Moegi's neck for emphasis, just enough to draw blood.

Konohamaru cursed as he and Udon complied, both of them pulling out one of their scrolls, Konohamaru with their sun scroll, and Udon with the sand scroll. One of the remaining three Iwa genin still in good enough shape to fight effectively, the genjutsu user picked them up, and the water style user tied Konohamaru and Udon up. "Fine, you have our scrolls, so let us be now!" Konohamaru growled as the genin finished trussing them up.

To his horror, the genin holding Moegi hostage just grinned sadistically. "Sorry, no can do. You see, you killed two of our comrades, and wounded most of us. Not only that, but only one of our teams can now pass the exams thanks to you. I think we shall take your lives in addition to your scrolls as compensation." His grin widened as he moved to slit Moegi's throat, Konohamaru and Udon only able to watch as the kunai plunged at her throat.

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

"Gotta say, I was expecting more of a challenge from these guys," Kin said as they checked the vitals of the out cold team of Iwa genin. They had encountered this team close to the center of the labyrinth, waiting to ambush teams, which had been clearly effective, because they had a bunch of scrolls, though three were the sun scroll and the other four were rain scrolls, with no sand scrolls. They were good enough to take six scrolls with their ambush tactics, but clearly unlucky. Of course, they were likely waiting for Konoha teams to ambush anyway, so they likely weren't too upset about it.

The Iwa genin were lucky. Despite Genyumaru being a little aggressive, they would all live. It was a shame that they could not get a photo of the faces the Iwa team had when they used a collaborative earth style jutsu that sent a boulder the size of a few small buildings at the team at a high speed, only for Genyumaru to simply _slap _it aside before pummeling the genin in all of ten seconds. Priceless.

"Well, we got enough to pass now, and we removed a good portion of competition as well," Haku said. "Since we have six rain scrolls, that is only nine teams, including us that have a chance to pass. With three and a half days remaining, that will give some time for more of the rain scrolls to be taken out of the equation, so not many will have a shot at passing now."

"Good, but it may still serve us well to take out any more teams laying ambushes near the building to further thin out opposing ranks," Genyumaru said. "If we can find even one more rain scroll, that will drastically decrease the chances of further passing teams."

….

"What in the-?" the Iwa genin growled as his arm was forcefully yanked back by the johyo, a small dart attached to a long rope, that had wrapped around his wrist before he could take Moegi's life.

"Just in time," a female voice said as its owner leapt at the Iwa nin, and her foot slammed into the side of his head, knocking him out.

Before his two comrades could react, there was a shout of, "Earth Style! Rock Bullets!" The two genin turned in time to watch the clods of rock thrown by a man with short brown hair and a Suna headband worn like a bandana smash into their faces, knocking them out cold. Moegi wasted no time in kicking the face of the Iwa genin whose calf had been skewered by Udon before he could even think to try anything funny.

"Nice job, Matsuri, Ittetsu!" a black haired girl shouted at the saviors of Konohamaru's team, as she knelt behind Konohamaru and Udon and channeled wind chakra into her fingers to form a blade of wind chakra and cut them free.

"Hey, I know you!" Konohamaru said to Matsuri as he dropped the ropes. "You were that nice lady Akari said showed her around town!"

"Yeah, that's right, and you are?" Matsuri asked.

"Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi!" Konohamaru said, and Moegi grumbled something about being able to handle her own introduction, while Udon took it in good grace.

"I hope you aren't too heavily injured?" Matsuri asked as Moegi got to work using basic medical ninjutsu the academy had started to teach about two years ago to heal Udon's wounded shoulder. Since Tsunade was not stuck as Hokage in this timeline, and Shizune was not spending so much time assisting her, they could both focus more on helping Konoha's shinobi learn the art, resulting in some of the more advanced classes teaching medical jutsu, and Moegi decided to be medic for Konohamaru's team.

"Nothing we can't handle," Moegi said. "Why did you guys help us anyway?"

"It was Matsuri's decision," the guy called Ittetsu replied.

"I just didn't want to see shinobi of our ally nation get killed so ruthlessly," Matsuri said. "Plus, I suppose it is a good chance for us to get the scrolls we need to pass."

"Oh yeah, we are gonna want to check those out!" Konohamaru said, smacking his forehead. After a quick search, they came up with the sun and sand scroll Konohamaru's team had had before, as well as three rain scrolls and another set of sand and sun scrolls. Matsuri's team had turned out to have started with a rain scroll.

"Well, since we have enough scrolls and a complete map now, why don't we both go to the center?" Konohamaru asked Matsuri. "We have enough scrolls between our two teams, and there is safety in numbers, right?"

"How about it, Ittetsu, Yukata?" Matsuri asked her teammates** (A/N: They are not OCs by the way, just rather minor characters)**.

"It sounds like a good idea to me," the black haired girl who was apparently Yukata replied.

…

The remaining three and a half days came and went, and the Yondaime Kazekage's paperwork was interrupted when the monitor on the wall next to him turned on and Gaara's image was displayed. "Kazekage-Sama," Gaara said, not using the term father due to the formality of the situation.

"Ah, I take it the second exam has just finished?" Gaara's father replied.

"Yes it has. A total of four teams has passed the exam, three from Konoha, and one of our own."

So twelve genin in all. Hmmm…" the Kazekage thought.

"Should we have the preliminaries for the third round?"

"No, there is no need. While twelve is a high number, it is far from unmanageable. Have the shinobi's matchups sorted out, and we will have the third exam in a month."

"Very well then." The monitor shut off.

…..

The teams that had passed were Konohamaru's, Akari's, Haku's and Matsuri's. Haku's team had spent the remainder of the time sweeping the area around the oasis before entering the building half a day before the exam ended. They were the last to arrive, though that was by choice. Konohamaru and his corps arrived about midway through, accompanied by Matsuri's team, luckily avoiding Haku's. Akari and her team ran right into the well trained team, but Haku had decided not to stop them, mostly out of camaraderie for Naruto's sister, partly out of the possibility of losing or at least getting injured if they fought Akari, Daisuke and Kiyoshi, and also partly out of fear of what Naruto would do to him if he found out Haku took his sister out of the exams.

Gaara shunshinned into the room they were all gathered in, and proceeded to congratulate all of them for making it all the way to the third exam and then proceeded to explain that from here on out, they would be tested individually, and all twelve of them could potentially be chunin if they made the cut. He explained how judges would evaluate matches about a month from now and that it would be set up like a tournament.

He then proceeded to form a box with his sand and twelve spheres, each with a different number on them, 1 through 12. Then he started calling them forward to take a sphere form the box, explaining that this was how they would determine matchups. Akari gulped, slightly nervous as she took her number: 5, which meant that her foe would be whoever got 6. She looked around nervously as others took their numbers, waiting to see who her first foe would be.

_"Please, no one from Zabuza's team, please no one from Zabuza's team, please no one from Zabuza's team," _she mentally chanted.

**Omake: Top three NaruHina moments Issac ruined #1**

"Aww, finally, some peace!" Naruto and Hinata both said as the former laid down the picnic basket he had been carrying and the latter laid the blanket out. It was a nice clear, sunny day I the meadow Naruto had picked out. And in order to keep that pest away from them, Naruto had only told Felix where they were going, or that they were even going to be gone.

After they had set the picnic up, Naruto laid back with a sigh. "What a nice day, huh?"

"It really is, Naruto-kun."

"No enclosed areas, no rain, and most importantly, no Isaac," Naruto sighed in absolute bliss.

"You're only right about the first one," a horrifyingly familiar voice said, and the couple paled as they whipped around to see that it was indeed Isaac behind them.

"How did you find out we were here?" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at the triclops with a screw loose. "And what do you mean, only the first one, even if you are here, there is no r-," he did not get any further as a Shadow Clone of Issac with a seal called a Hover Seal **(A/N: Take a lucky guess what that one does) **on dumped two buckets of ice cold water on Naruto and Hinata.

"You really can't trust weather forecasters, you know," Issac said as he pretended to pout. "They promised that not a drop of water would be falling from the sky today, and here we are with a sudden, albeit short, deluge." He then proceeded to stop using his set of lungs to efficiently supply him with oxygen as he started to laugh his ass off.

"Very funny," Naruto growled as he used a low powered fire jutsu to get him and Hinata warm again. "Why don't you get going before I make good on the threat I made when you pulled that stunt with the birds? The only reason I haven't already is because I can't seem to catch you when I want to do that."

"Funny how fast having a volatile jutsu aiming for your rear end can motivate you to run," Isaac said. "But no can do on me leaving, someone has to make sure you two don't do anything you might regret later."

"What?" Hinata asked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto demanded.

"As if you don't know. Two teenagers with raging hormones going through their bodies right now, and going off on their own, telling almost no one, it would make a guy worry about your virginities."

Naruto and Hinata's faces both went undocumented shades of red as the former spluttered, "What the hell- We weren't going to do anything like… well, that!"

"Sure, that's what they all say, and who knows, you may actually mean it now, but all it takes is one moment of wild passion, and next thing you know, you are using Shadow Clones to get really fre-."

"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear your stupid perverted fantasies! Lalalalalalalala!" Naruto said that last part with his hands over his ears. Hinata meanwhile went even redder as she imagined what Isaac was getting at with the Shadow Clones… before she passed out from a sudden massive nosebleed.

Naruto looked mortified at her prone form, trying his best to ignore the roaring laughter of a certain fox within him. **"Looks like even that shy vixen of yours has a perverted side too, HAHAHAAAAAAA!" **Kurama exclaimed, causing Naruto to go red himself, though this was mainly out of anger this time. Wordlessly, he formed the familiar cross seal, surrounding Isaac with a hundred clones, before they performed the transformation jutsu.

Later that same day, Naruto was forced to explain to Felix why Isaac needed treatment for a massive heart attack and was muttering in delirious fear about an endless army of giant sized versions of his horrors, and no way out.

**A/N: Next chapter, we get to find out the matchups for the third exams. Bet you can't wait!**

**PLEASE leave a review if you read my story! I won't write the next chapter until I have at least ten for this one, to compensate for the lack I have for last chapter! So REVIEW!**


	53. Chapter 52: Things to Come

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Sorry to hold this chapter hostage for the reviews, I got a bit carried away with my irritation from the lack of them before last chapter. It got results I suppose, but once again, sorry.**

**Also, in response to a review, I will be changing the spelling of Jyuubi to Juubi from here. I looked it up and it turns out I really have been spelling Juubi wrong. **

**Time to reveal the matchups for the third exams and get on with the party Akari and Konohamaru are going to start in Suna. He he he he…**

**Chapter 52: Things to Come**

After all of the numbers had been taken, they stood as thus:

1. Haku Yuki

2. Ittetsu

3. Udon

4. Kiyoshi

5. Akari Namikaze

6. Genyumaru

7. Yukata

8. Moegi

9. Kin Tsuchi

10. Matsuri

11. Daisuke Uchiha

12. Konohamaru Sarutobi

_"Nooooooo!" _Akari mentally screamed as she saw her name next to Genyumaru's. That was not going to be an easy fight at all. She also noted Konohamaru and Dasiuke give each other small smiles as they acknowledged being each other's opponents. Gaara cleared his throat before then telling the genin how the fights would work from then on. The brackets in the tournament were set up so that the winners of the first and second matches would fight each other before moving up a bracket, to face the winner of whoever won the fourth match, and the winner of the fifth match would face the winner of the sixth match before moving to face the winner of the eighth match.

They all nodded in understanding as they mentally sized each other up. "You are dismissed," Gaara then said.

…..

"Good job you three," Sasuke said as his team returned to the hotel. "You now have a month to prepare for the next stage of the exams. That means I will be training you in earnest, but separately."

"Why would you train us separately?" Akari asked, confused.

"Because there is the possibility of you fighting each other in these exams, though that is a little unlikely. Kiyoshi would have to beat Haku, which is unlikely, sorry to say it, for a shot at facing Akari, and if she were to face Daisuke, she would have to beat both Genyumaru and Haku, one after the other. Her one saving grace is that Haku would have to fight two matches. And Daisuke would have to beat Konohamaru and Kin, so that is also an unlikely scenario.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Daisuke muttered, while Kiyoshi just looked thoughtful.

"However, should you face each other in the exams, you will need to have some tricks to yourself. Before, you were training as a team to get things done, but from here on out, individual abilities are what are going to be tested. That means that you will be expected to go all out against each other, and if you already know the tricks that your teammates have, it will make for a poor match."

"So who will you train first?" Akari asked.

"Mainly Daisuke, now that he has his Sharingan awakened. He will benefit the most from training with me, but I will also give you and Kiyoshi some attention. You're going to need it."

…

Itachi looked at the letter in front of him with a frown. It had come from one of those rifts that resembled broken glass, and detailed that there was a change of plans. The original plan was to bring Naruto back to this dimension once the Akatsuki started moving, about six months earlier than he had returned from his trip with Jiraiya. However a wrench was thrown in said plans when (and this was the part that had Itachi frowning) Naruto had developed the Rinnegan due to having Sasuke's blood donated to him. Because of this, Felix had decided that they would come back first for a day during the third exam so Naruto could watch his sister fight. Whether they stayed or left at that point depended on how active the Akatsuki were at that point. There was also another matter. So far, three of the current kage were in the loop on the threat of the Akatsuki: Itachi, Gaara's father, and Onoki.

In order to bring A and Mei into the loop, Felix had sent Itachi instructions to have someone who knew the Pulse Imprint Jutsu on any kind of diplomatic mission, as well as someone who was capable of holding a kage down for even a second. It did not matter as much whether or not the leaders of this world were aware of what was going to happen anymore, because they were rapidly approaching the point where the clock had been turned back in the first place, and they had already changed so much that after Naruto returned, there would be little to no guarantee that things would happen in a similar manner as they did last time. From this point forward, they would be going in almost blind, and could not afford to rely fully on knowledge on what happened in the past timeline. So it did not matter so much if the Raikage or Mizukage tried to change everything they felt they had to, and it would be an asset to have all five kage aware of what was going on.

After the seriousness of the letter, Itachi actually cracked a smile at the P.S: _Please don't tell Sasuke about Naruto's eyes yet. He practically begged for the chance to be there to get a picture of the teme's face for blackmail purposes when he found out. _Itachi set the letter down and began looking over all intel he had on the Akatsuki, from his previous time as a member, and what he currently knew about this timeline. Felix was right, they had to act as if they did not know what the Akatsuki was going to do next.

….

"Time to try out the first of your Rinnegan summons," Felix said as he created his Dragon Ruler of All Elements by casting five hand seals.

Naruto stood before him on the training grounds, before he concentrated, his eyes activating. Sure enough, there was a BOOF as a red dragon about a third the size of Felix's popped into being. Its eyes were obviously the Rinnegan, and it had the dark orange chakra receiving piercings in various points of its body.

The Rinnegan beast wasted no time in bathing the wind head of Felix's artificial dragon in fire, causing it to explode as the wind head fanned said flames. The head simply reformed and the Dragon Ruler of All Elements retaliated with a blast of water from its mouth. It was then Naruto tested the ability he had tried to give his summons. The scales of the Rinnegan dragon turned from fiery red to a dull brown, as the dragon released rock from its mouth to catch the water and halt it.

The Dragon Ruler then fired lightning to pierce the rock, which was responded to with Naruto's dragon turning green to fire a wind blast, stopping the lightning, and provoking a fireball next. The dragon turned blue to use a blast of water, extinguishing said fireball, before turning yellow and firing lightning to rend the stone clod into small pebbles.

"Looks like it works," Naruto sighed. Obviously, the dragon he made would not be able to cast any elemental jutsu like the Yoshoryuus, but just having a variety of attacks that could be fired from its mouth would be a huge asset in battle, because it could gain any elemental advantage desired.

"That it does," Felix said as his Dragon Ruler dissipated. "The hydra should be ready for testing tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, it should be," Naruto replied as his own dragon disappeared. "Hey Felix, when you used to summon that thing, didn't you used to stab your sword into the ground? Why did you cast hand seals then?"

"Because like I said once, the jutsu that creates that thing was preset into the sword by my great-great grandaunt after she invented the jutsu, leading to her gaining a lot of fame by being able to use a jutsu that required the use of all five elements at once. So far in recorded history, she is the only member of the clan who has been able to do so. Stabbing the sword in a downward motion was part of the way to activate the technique. But when you saw me cast hand signs this time…"

"You can actually use the jutsu without having to activate the preset one, right?" Naruto asked, looking impressed.

"Yep, that makes me the second in clan history to be able to do so, though I still need extra chakra from Elemental Infinity if I don't want to exhaust myself."

"But why did you want to do that, if you still need to use the sword to use the jutsu effectively, and the jutsu is preset into it?"

"Because I want to improve it, with an idea I recently had, and set the improved version into the sword. It also helps me learn to use the five elements at once to a degree, so it may be good practice to make that five element Rasengan."

"Hehehe, well you're going to have to eat your heart out, because now that I have the Rinnegan, I can master the last two elements and make it myself** (A/N: That is actually one major reason I had originally considered giving him the Rinnegan)**.

"Good luck. You have yet to master the first exercise with water manipulation, and you haven't even started with lightning yet. Even with the Rinnegan, and Shadow Clones, you won't master elements you originally had no affinity for overnight."

"Just you wait! I'm going to have it down before you do, you'll see!"

Against his better judgment, considering Naruto's considerable luck with gambling, Felix said, "You want to put your money where your mouth is?" After they both made unnecessarily high bets on the subject, Felix then asked, "So what other creatures where you planning to use with those eyes of yours, anyway?"

"Not sure yet, I thought about making a toad, but I don't want to disrespect old boss chief, or any of the others."

"Probably smart. Tell you what, we can go do another dimension later. It used to be uninhabited, but one of our top-notch biologists actually turned a large chunk of it into a sort of resort for various species of a lot of different dimensions. I'm sure you won't have a lack of variety there."

Naruto noticed Isaac walking by, whistling as he went, and the blonde gave a grin that would have scared the man if he saw it, before he turned to Felix and asked, "Do you think that dimension has giant squirrels?"

"You are not wasting your Rinnegan powers on something so stupid!" Felix said in an adamant tone, to Naruto's disappointment. "You already torture him enough with those transformed clones of yours anyway."

"No amount of torture is enough for that guy," Naruto muttered. "Hinata still comes dangerously close to fainting every time she sees me use the Shadow Clone Jutsu thanks to him."

…

"Heya Akari, I see you passed too!" Konohamaru said as he and Akari noticed each other out on the streets of Suna.

"Yep, was there ever any doubt?" the young girl asked.

"So what are you doing out here anyway? I figured Sasuke would be training you hard."

"He gave the three of us the day off actually, so he could figure out how to go about training the three of us. What about you?"

"I actually can't find Sakura-Sensei anywhere. After she congratulated the three of us for passing the second exam, I think she ditched us to try to find your sensei and date him for the day. Seriously, why couldn't I have been on your team, so Sasuke could have trained me too? Not that Sakura-Sensei is too bad a teacher herself, but she has a lot of things that make her not nearly as awesome as your teacher."

"Uh, Konohamaru…" Akari said as she looked over his shoulder at a spot behind him.

"I mean first of all, the only combat skill she is really good at is punching things, and a few earth style jutsu…"

"Konohamaru…" Akari said in a warning tone, but he continued to dig his grave.

"There's also that cheap genjutsu she uses…"

"Konohamaru…"

"And she also gushes too much about her boyfriend. I don't quite know what Sasuke sees in her, I mean, sure that hair of hers is attractive, but she is just so tomboyish, and has the body to match."

"KONOHAMARU!" Akari shouted frantically.

Konohamaru paused before he paled. "She's standing right behind me, isn't she?"

"Oh don't stop on my account," Sakura said from behind the doomed boy. "Please, do continue," she finished as she cracked her knuckles.

"I tried to warn him," Akari deadpanned as she watched her partner in crime make a beeline for it, only to get caught by his enraged sensei.

…...

"Do you know where Akari went?" Daisuke asked Kiyoshi as they stepped out of the hotel room.

"Why do you want to know?" Kiyoshi asked with a bit of mischievous suspicion in his eyes.

"No particular reason," Daisuke said hastily. "It's just that I don't think she should be out alone after what so many Iwa genin tried to pull."

"I don't think they will try anything again. They already tried to off us during the exams, and it was legal to kill then. Now that the second exam is over, I have no doubt that they will try to avoid the wrong side of the law with the Sand shinobi keeping a close eye on them until they leave. And from what I heard, some of the genin were torn new ones when their teachers found out what they were trying to do. I don't think the Tsuchikage will let them off easy when they get back to Iwagakure. To answer your previous question by the way, I believe she went to catch up with Konohamaru."

"Oh," Daisuke said. He supposed that wanting to catch up with an old friend was understandable. And yet… why did the thought of it seem to irk him?

…

"So how about it?" Akari asked the recovering Sarutobi once Sakura had finished pummeling him and gave him his training schedule. Konhamaru was muttering something about "now she shows up," as he rubbed the triple lump on his head. "Suna is a little too quiet right about now. So after a few days of scoping it out, why don't we make things a little more lively when we're not training?"

"I'm game. Let's just not do anything that would get us thrown out of the exams as a result," Konohamaru said. "I waited too long to stop having to do D Ranks to do anything too stupid to risk it."

They both looked at each other before they burst out laughing. "Yeah right," Akari choked out between heaves of laughter. "They would have to catch us in the act first, and that is never going to happen!"

"So now all we have to worry about is training whenever our instructors are too busy with the others," Konohamaru said.

"I already have an idea on what we could work on," Akari said as she bit her thumb before casting a few signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" In a burst of smoke, Enma appeared.

"Eh, what did you summon me here for?" the aged monkey king asked.

"Sorry, Jiji Ape," Akari replied, earning a small tick mark at the nickname, but they were familiar enough with each other for Enma to let it slide. This time. "I was just wondering if you had any good retainers that could teach a taijutsu style that humans could use?"

"We actually have a lot of those," Enma replied. "Since humans and apes are so similar, there is not too much of a difference in what we practice. I will ensure you get some decent training if that's what you are after. Just summon the trainers I pick for you whenever you are ready."

"Cool, thanks Jiji Ape!" Konohamaru said enthusiastically, resulting in Enma grabbing both his and Akari's heads and bonking them together.

"Another thing. Stop calling me that, both of you!" With that, he vanished in a burst of smoke.

"Owww, why is my head such a target for people I annoy…" Konohamaru muttered.

"Eh, I prefer to target a certain lower spot myself," Akari said, causing Konohamaru to stop complaining about his headache at once.

….

In a hidden Akatsuki base, ten figures appeared on the fingertips of the Gedo Mezo, and four others were on the floor of the cave in person. "What didja call us here for, Leader-Sama?" Kisame asked.

"Please tell me you don't already have a new mission for me and my new partner, I'm still healing from having to be stitched back together with ninja wire, and I still haven't found a replacement scythe after that bastard Hozuki took mine," the spectral figure of Hidan said. "And my right middle finger was never found either. I swear, if it weren't for the fact that I can only have a curse up for so long, and need to get another DNA sample to get it back up, I would so still be torturing the little jerk right about now."

"Perhaps you should have been more careful then," another spectral figure next to him with visible bloodshot black eyes** (A/N: This is a character suggested to me by Akatsukicolin)** said. "Then perhaps you would not have had to have Kabuto help you out."

"Eh, shaddup!"

"Enough," Pain said. "There have been more than a few complications to our plans over the past few years. We originally planned to have the jinchuriki captured one at a time to have less attention paid to us, but the other nations with jinchuriki have become more and more on edge, thanks to the meddling warnings from Konohagakure, and they are aware of our plans."

"Heh, so it seems that hitting and running is not going to cut it anymore then?" Kisame asked. "So what do we do now then?"

"We take advantage of the element of surprise while we still have it," Pain replied. "However, instead of waiting for opportunities to take our prizes, we are going to make a bold move while the nations are least expecting us to do so. That is why I intend to have simultaneous assaults on Suna, Iwa and Kumo to take five jinchuriki in one go, a month from now, while the exams in Suna are going on."

"A leaf out of Orochimaru's book, hmm?" Deidara said from the floor of the cave. "I don't think that worked so well for him though, hmm?"

"Fool, that is only because he was betrayed by the two other nations he had allied himself with," Kabuto said from his perch on one of the statue's fingers.

"Deidara, though you and Tobi are not yet full members of the Akatsuki, we will need to ensure the assault on Suna is successful, for we not only need the Ichibi jinchuriki, but also a certain someone participating in the exams, someone who will help us get the Kyuubi jinchuriki. That one will be the hardest to capture by sheer force alone, if recent reports from drakmus and Caius are accurate, so leverage will be ideal. So I will have you both participating as partners in that endeavor. Sasori and Drakmus will be in charge of that operation. Caius and his Edo Tenseis will be joining you on this mission.

"Kabuto, Kisame, you will attack Iwa at this time, and Hidan's two man cell will back you up. Raizen, Zetsu, as much as I want you two to help assault Kumo, I believe you are better suited for the task of finding the locations of the Rokubi and the Sanbi and capturing them."

"Then who is going to assault Kumo?" Sasori asked.

"Konan and I will deal with that nation personally. Kumo is the second strongest of the nations after all. Spend the next month preparing for your assignments." With that, his and Konan's figures faded. Raizen and Zetsu's also went.

Before the remaining six Akatsuki members left, Tobi looked at Deidara and said, "So partners, eh?"

"Hmm."

"So I am just curious, but what's it like?"

"What's what like, hmm?"

"Being able to give yourself blowjobs with those mouths on your hands."

Most of the others there developed a sudden cough as Deidara developed a good set of tick marks. "Tobi…" he said in clear anger. Tobi gave small start and tried to flee the cave, leaving a smoke cloud behind him with the speed he was running. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. "Death by Bombing!" Deidara shouted as explosions went off, sending Tobi flying through the air.

…

A few days later in Suna, there was a lot of chaos going around. There was a scream of frustration from one of the stores that had once discriminated against Gaara as Matsuri had told Akari. Apparently, the entire stocks of food supplies had been replaced by countless cups of instant ramen. The Suna academy had increasingly desperate students trying to use the bathrooms, which were occupied by nothing more than several pairs of pants and shoes filled with toilet paper to make it look like someone was in the stalls. One of the more snobbish restaurants had a serious amount of customers complaining about being stuck to their seats. This was because someone had put special near invisible storage seals on the seats of the seats, that only activated to release fast drying glue when a certain amount of pressure was applied to said seal.

Someone had also snuck into Anbu headquarters at night and dyed all of the ANBU uniforms and equipment pink, much to the Kazekage's amusement when they tried to hide it with cloaks. He decided to make the Anbu more mortified when he told them to do their duties in said dyed uniforms, telling them to regard it as a training exercise, because if someone could sneak into ANBU headquarters and pull such a stunt, then their own stealth skills needed to improve. And if they could sneak around in uniforms of that color, they could do so in anything. Needless to say, the ANBU took the not be seen part very seriously, because they were determined to avoid the embarrassment of being seen wearing pink. As a result, only three had been spotted that day, and those disappeared before the ones who spotted them could confirm that they had really just seen an ANBU Pink Ops.

All in all, it did not take much effort for Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru to figure out who was behind these outrageous jokes. Shikamaru just left Sasuke and Sakura to handle their own unruly students, saying it would be too troublesome to help them. That was before he lit one of his cigarettes, only to find out pretty quick that the smokes had been switched with stink bombs disguised as cigarettes, enveloping the three Leaf shinobi in a noxious cloud. After that, he was a little more inclined to help.

**A/N: More pranks to come next chapter, and possibly the one after that, and Naruto continues to practice the Rinnegan, starting on the other Paths at this point. Also, the love triangle will develop to the point where the fight between Daisuke and Konohamaru will get a little personal. And that is not the only romance that will end up moving forward next chapter either. I intend to get the ball rolling between another couple next chapter. Cookie for anyone who guesses who the happy couple will be! **

**Another reminder, if you want to ask me questions, I want to be able to PM you, so if you have something to ask me, have an account please!**

**Read and Review! **


	54. Chapter 53: Poor, Poor Suna…

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: More pranks in this chapter and a new pairing is revealed! **

**Chapter 53: Poor, Poor Suna…**

Whap. Whap! "Ow!" Konohamaru shouted as he was flung back by yet another blow from his sparring partner, Michiko, one of Enma's sons, and an expert at hand to hand combat.

"Get up and try again," Michiko said sternly. "You are not going to improve if you don't keep at it."

"Alright," Konohamaru groaned, knowing that his only reward for complaining would be more pain. They traded a few more blows before Michiko took advantage of an overextended punch from the young Sarutobi to yank him forward, twist himself behind Konohamaru and slam his palm into the back of Konohamaru's head. "Yeeooowwch!"

Konohamaru flew face first into the ground, and Michiko shook his head. "You are too aggressive, trying to take openings that are not even there, and making yourself open in the process. This style I am trying to teach involves using the momentum of the battle to overcome your opponent, and turn their own strength against them."

"How?"

"Did you not realize how I was able to get behind you so easily? When you punched at me, it was easy to grab your arm and pull you, using your own momentum to make the direction I was trying to make you go in easier than anywhere else. And you were still too busy staggering from being put off balance by that maneuver to do anything about my attack."

"Huh."

"Now again!"

….

"Keep it up Daisuke," Sasuke said as their blades clashed. Daisuke was panting, his Sharingan active. Sasuke entered his kenjutsu stance, the blade with the hawk engraved on the handle in his right hand, while the snake engraved sword was in his left in a reverse grip, and partly behind his back.

Dasiuke exhaled and charged again, but his blows were rapidly repelled, and Sasuke wasn't even using his Sharingan. Even so, Daisuke was improving quite a bit already. With his own Sharingan, he was able to perceive and replicate several of Sasuke's kenjutsu maneuvers, though their styles were clearly different. Of course, Sharingan or not, Daisuke's body still had a lot of work to do to get a decent stamina and speed built up. After a few more bouts, he felt he could not even stand up anymore.

"Alright, take a break," Sasuke said, and Daisuke gladly obeyed that order. "Your stamina is getting better. I have confidence that you will pass the exams."

…..

"Wood Style: Deep Forest Creation!" Akari shouted at one of the private training grounds. A large collection of trees burst from the ground, though not nearly as large of a collection of forestry as what Hashirama could create with the same jutsu. Akari fell on her backside, heaving with heavy breaths. "Guess that wasn't such a good idea," she muttered. She knew that Genyumaru was not a good foe to go up against in close quarters, so the idea she had was to try to keep him at bay by putting several trees between him and her so she could keep hidden from him and use ambush tactics most of the fight. Trouble was, this jutsu required a crap load of chakra, an amount that drained even her reserves pretty bad. She was only nine after all, even if she was an Uzumaki.

"Have you thought about popping a food pill immediately after using that jutsu?" a Shadow Clone of Sasuke asked. She blinked. That would work. That would jump start her recovery after using the jutsu, so she could make her defensive obstacles and still have the energy to run away from Genyumaru. "You could also work a bit more on chakra control to increase your reserves a little between now and the exams."

"Both good ideas, thanks Duck-Butt Sensei," Akari said. Sasuke twitched.

"You know, I bet you can't go the whole month before the exams without calling me that," Sasuke said.

Akari narrowed her eyes before replying, "How about we put your money where your mouth is?"

"Fair enough," Sasuke said as they both agreed on a value that was roughly equal to fifty dollars, but in ryo **(A/N: I have no idea how much ryo that would be). **_"This will either be the easiest money I ever won, or else money well spent to keep her from using that nickname for a month. Either way, I win," _Sasuke thought with satisfaction.

….

"This here is practically a shrine to the Yondaime's son," Kimimaro said to Fu as he showed her around the village, stopping outside Ichiraku's. Itachi had charged him with the task of keeping Fu safe and easing her transition to life within the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Huh?" Fu said. "It looks like a simple ramen stand to me."

"Exactly. That Naruto Namikaze pretty much worships anything to do with the "food of the gods." Not that I dislike ramen myself, but he takes his liking to an extreme," Kimimaro said. "It's funny. The person who helped me such a great deal has a lot of strange quirks."

"That's rather interesting, how exactly would he have helped someone like you?"

"Let's just say I was in darkness for the longest time, but did not even realize for most of it. And when there was a light for me to take, I was too blind to see it until he pointed me in the right direction, with some help from Jugo at any rate."

"Yeah, Jugo had a few words with me some time ago. I feel I owe you an apology."

"Hm?" Kimimaro asked as Teuchi came up and kindly asked them what they would like. They both ordered beef miso ramen.

"I was a little harsh after you saved me from the Akatsuki back there. I kind of felt like you were just helping me because you were ordered to, and viewed me the same way as everyone else did."

"To be fair, I have been ordered to help you, but I am happy to oblige those orders. And I do not view you as a demon the same way most others would. Why would I, when someone I have a great deal of respect for has the same issue as you?"

"You know the jinchuriki of this village!?" Fu asked, only for Kimimaro to put a hand over her mouth.

"Keep that down, it is not supposed to be discussed. And it is not my place to share the identity of someone with your… "condition.""

"Right, sorry," Fu said as she rubbed the back of her head.

They ate in silence for a bit before Fu asked, "So, you must be incredibly strong to have beaten that Kakuzu guy. He was actually talked about in history from my village, and went toe to toe with your village's Shodaime."

"The fool let his guard down after falling for one of the most basic tricks in the book. I would expect better from someone over a century old, but then again, having too much power could actually cause one to become overconfident and forget some basics." They finished their meal before Kimimaro paid. "I will escort you back to the housing the Hokage provided."

"Why thank you. You certainly know how to treat a girl."

"I try to give aid to anyone I can."

"Anyway, that was a good first date."

Kimimaro went slightly pink before saying, "Date? That was not a date."

"Oh really, what do you call taking a girl around town and buying her dinner then?"

"I call that doing my job as an escort and being generous."

"Yeah right. Admit it, you are attracted to me," Fu said with a wink.

It was clear that the usually stoic Kimimaro was flustered by this.

…..

"Where the hell are my puppets?!" Kankuro demanded as he tore apart his room to see if he had gotten the wrong scrolls, though he knew that was unlikely. He did not store much else besides his puppets in his scrolls, and he certainly did not have any of those girl's dolls that came out of the ones he was sure he stored his battle puppets in.

"What's with all the racket Kankuro?" Temari demanded as she entered the room, the make-up under her eyes the same color as Kankuro's usual war paint for some reason. Kankuro turned to face her, and she twitched for a second, before saying, "Er, I know that you are sexually confused, but is that the make-up I got for my date with Shikamaru tonight?"

"What?" Kankuro asked as he checked a mirror. Sure enough, his "war paint" was now a slightly glittery pink color.

The rest of Kankuro's face went red, and he turned to Temari, who checked the mirror herself, before saying, "Gah! It looks like someone switched our make-ups!"

"Mine is not make-up, how many times I gotta tell you? It's war paint!" he shouted, before glaring at Temari, who had mouthed the last three words at the same time he said them while rolling her eyes. "And isn't this make-up a little girlier than you are normally comfortable with?" he asked, causing Temari to blush a bit, and Kankuro grinned. "I guess someone really likes that lazy bum, eh?"

Temari sputtered, before replying, "No I do not. He's just footing the bill for dinner tonight. The least I can do is look nice."

"Never mind that," Kankuro muttered as he and his sister wiped their faces clean. "Someone stole my puppets, and who knows what they are doing with them right now. How am I supposed to attend training with Lady Chiyo without my tools?" he demanded. He had been training with the old prune for the past two years, thanks to some convincing from Gaara. He really owed his younger brother for that.

Before Temari could say anything, Gaara Shunshinned into the room and said, "I believe I know where your dolls are Kankuro."

…

There was a small crowd gathered in the plaza in the village, and they were laughing their asses off. There were two short people in cloaks and they were putting on a rather comedic show with, you guessed it, Kankuro's puppets. Naturally, when the puppet master showed up and saw his tools being used in such a manner, he was well and truly pissed about it.

"Those are my puppets, you morons!" he shouted, running right at the two figures, before they both disappeared in a burst of smoke, showing them to have been Shadow Clones. The puppets fell, tangled in the ninja wire used to control them. Kankuro immediately retrieved them, muttering as he tried to untangle them, before he heard a bunch of boos and got pelted by various food items from the audience to the show.

Akari and Konohamaru made their exits at this point, having hidden within the crowd and used the Transformation Jutsu to stay anonymous, while their clones pulled the joke. They slapped a high five when they got out of sight, already planning their next joke.

…

"Man, that brother of mine is such a bozo," Temari said as she finished the meal Shikamaru had bought for her. "He should have been more subtle about interrupting something a crowd had gathered to see, even if it was put on with his property."

"Did you ever find out who stole his puppets?" Shikamaru asked with a small smile, though he felt he already had a very shrewd idea who was responsible.

"No, the pranksters got away without us seeing their faces, and they used Shadow Clones to pull the joke. It was a well thought out escape on their part."

"Sounds troublesome for Kankuro," Shikamaru said as he got out his wallet to pay for their meal, only to find out that it was missing. "What the? My wallet's gone!"

"Ha ha, very funny Shika. You think I will be scared into thinking I will have to foot the bill? I've seen better jokes told by Gaara."

"No, I'm serious! Some jerk stole my wallet!" Shikamaru said, frantically searching his pockets and pouch several times, sweating in fear as he did so. If he couldn't pay, Temari was going to kill him….

…..

"Bet the lazy bum is panicking right about now," Akari heaved through her laughter as the snuck into Shikamaru's hotel room and put the wallet they had taken out of his pouch on the table at the door, as Konohamaru was chortling himself.

"Let's see…" the Sarutobi said as he checked the list of jokes they had yet to pull. "Next on our agenda is to set loose a few of our monkey summons on unsuspecting villagers with a bunch of water balloons, slip that Icha Icha book into Sasuke's belongings and somehow make sure Sakura-Sensei sees it, and let's not forget the statues in the council room. Suna is like our personal pranking grounds for the next few weeks."

….

In a secluded forest, somewhere near Kiri, a young man with black hair, a few bangs covering his left eye, and wearing a blue kimono sat down on a rock as he meditated. He had been a wanderer for several years, and the isolation from society at large suited him quite well.

His meditation was interrupted by what sounded vaguely like breaking glass, and he looked up to see the air develop patterns exactly like that, and a rift opened in the said space. A tall man covered almost completely in black plate mail armor, and wearing a cape that was black as well, but with red cloud designs on it, stepped out of the rift. The man immediately got into a battle stance, not knowing the intentions of his strange visitor, though if the rumors he had heard about the designs on the figure's cape were to be believed, he had a shrewd idea.

The only visible features of the armored figure were his long black hair that flowed from the back of his helmet, and his eyes. The wanderer inhaled sharply as he took in the eyes. While most of those who wore plate mail opted to have slits to see out of, giving minimal visibility, but maximum protection, this man seemed to have eye size and shaped holes for maximum visibility instead. And both of his eyes were the Sharingan.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! I hope the chapter was good, even if a little short. No prizes for guessing who both men in that last scene are, hehe. Bet no one was expecting a pairing with Kimi and Fu!**

**Next chapter, we see a sneak peak of just what one of my OCs is truly capable of. Please Read and Review!**


	55. Chapter 54: Bijuu vs Gravity

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I am going to just ignore the fact that I only got 5 reviews for a chapter again, due to the fact that it was a short chapter last time, because I am still a little guilty about threatening to hold one chapter hostage, and finally because I hit 700 reviews! Just 300 more before I reach my goal!**

**We finally get to see a bit of what Raizen can do! I kind of feel sorry for Utakata, but he will almost certainly be captured in this chapter. Please enjoy!**

**Chapter 54: Bijuu vs Gravity**

"So, how did they get your girlfriend to pummel you?" Shikamaru asked Sasuke as they ran into each other on the streets of Suna, both looking like walking bruises.

"They slipped one of the books that Naruto's perverted godfather writes into my bag, and Sakura recognized the corner they left visible," Sasuke replied past a split lip."And she only realized it was a prank on their part after she did this to me. You?"

"Stole my wallet and put it back in my hotel when I was supposed to buy dinner for me and Temari."

"They are both so dead," Sasuke said. "When I get my hands on them, I will show them exactly what one of my training methods was originally used for!"

"This is going to be troublesome. We are going to have to catch them in the act first," Shikamaru said. "Otherwise they would just deny the whole thing and be a bit more careful not to draw suspicion. Like I said, it is troublesome."

"In that case, we are going to have to be on guard for them to target us again, or anticipate one of their targets and catch them in the act there."

Before they could speculate any further on their strategies, there was a pop and a splash, followed by a few screams. Sasuke and Shikamaru immediately went to investigate, and saw a bunch of monkeys running away from several wet people, the remains of water-filled balloons nearby. "It's too troublesome to go after those monkeys," Shikamaru said. "They would just dismiss themselves upon being caught anyway. We just need to figure out where those two will strike next."

"Hmm, let me think. What is one target that would be absolutely irresistible to them, and would be a challenge they would relish?"

…..

"Who is responsible for all of these stupid jokes?" Kankuro asked no one in particular.

"Is it really that hard?" Temari asked her brother. "Think about it. The pranks start after the exams start. We have the sibling and the apprentice of one of the world's most notorious jokesters participating in said exams. While that only makes them the most likely suspects, we should also take into account the Namikaze family's obsession with ramen, hence the joke with all the instant ramen in the stores. And then there is the use of Shadow Clones, which said prankster is rather known for after his liberal use when he took the exams, and the fact that monkeys that are not native to this desert are being used, and that the grandfather of one of said suspects was a famous monkey summoner himself.

The dots connected in Kankuro's mind before he shouted, "Oh, that's it! Whne I get my hands on them, I am going to kill them with the most painful poisons I have at my disposal! And then I will use my statues as exam proctor to throw them out of the exams!"

"No you won't," Teamri said. "So far, they have not caused any property damage because the goods they switched the instant ramen out for were soon found, the glue washed off of those restaurant seats, and we were getting now uniforms for the ANBU anyway. And other than tricking me and Sakura into launching assaults on our boyfriends, there were no injuries either. The jokes are infuriating, but relatively harmless. And Naruto would kill us if we tossed his sister out of the exams."

"Fine, but I will still get revenge somehow," Kankuro vowed. "No one messes with my war paint and puppets and gets away with it!"

…..

"Who are you?" the wandering ninja said to the Sharingan bearer. "Are you of the Uchiha clan? And are you with the Akatsuki?"

"Hmm, since I am going to take you prisoner, it does not matter if I tell you, so I will," the armored man said as his Sharingan bored into the wanderer. "My name is Raizen Genshukuayatsuri. I am not of the Uchiha clan, these eyes are prizes of mine. And yes, I am with the Akatsuki, and am here for the Rokubi you have sealed within you. Come quietly, and save yourself some trouble. I can tell you that it would be absolutely pointless to resist. "

"I have no intention of surrendering to you. I am not by any means a weakling," Utakata replied.

Raizen did not respond. He only gazed intently at his target before flaring his killing intent.

**(A/N: OST Himoji plays)**

Utakata froze as an extremely oppressive feeling overtook him. It was a lot like being submerged at the bottom of the ocean with the pressure crushing you, and being surrounded by thousands of hungry great white sharks. The missing Kiri nin was paralyzed as he witnessed several visions of himself dying in the most gruesome ways he could imagine.

_"This.. is just… killing intent?" _Utakata managed to think. _"What the hell is this guy?"_

"Don't tell me it's already over," Raizen said as he strode to the wandering jinchuriki. "All I did was flare some killer intent, and you freeze up on me? And here I was, hoping for a chance to get some exercise."

**"Move, damn it!"** Saiken shouted within his host, and leaking his will into him to help him resist the killing intent. Utakata gave a start and jumped back, pulling out his bubble blower as he did so.** "You need to run. Now! This guy… he's way too strong for you to hope to win against!"**

_"Trying to escape is also a bad idea Rokubi,"_ Utakata replied as he blew several of his bubbles at Raizen, hoping to make a distraction when they detonated._ "He would just chase me down easily. Our best chance is to try to fight and make an opening to escape."_

**"You're probably right," **Saiken conceded. **"I'll loan my chakra to you, and you may even call me forth fully if you need to."**

The bubbles went off, engulfing Raizen in their explosive blasts, and Utakata cast his next jutsu. He was encased in one of his own bubbles, which shimmered and turned into the same color as his surroundings. While he knew his explosive bubbles hit, he had more than doubts that that would suffice to subdue his foe, so he prioritized escape above all else.

Before his bubble could float very far, Raizen practically materialized in front of him with incredible speed, his armor smoking. "Hate to burst your bubble," he said, pun intended, as he launched his fist at the camouflaged jinchiriki, causing the bubble he was hiding in to pop and Utakata was blasted backwards. "But these eyes I acquired can see chakra. That means anything you could use to try to hide from me is pretty much pointless."

"Damn," Utakata cursed as he knew escape would be close to impossible because of that.

"But it's not just the eyes," Raizen continued. "They are merely my least tedious means of flushing out foes. I have other means at my disposal."

"I guess I am just going to have to beat you then," Utakata said as he tried to form his Ink Bubbles to completely vaporize Raizen. Before they could even get close to the Gravity Manipulator, they suddenly sped up, and I mean that as in they went skyward, really fast. "What the hell?" Utakata asked before he suddenly felt so heavy he could not even stand and went down like a ton of bricks. "Urgh…"

"It's my Gravity Style Jutsu," Raizen said. "The Kekkei Genkai of the Genshukuayatsuri clan allows us to freely manipulate gravity to various effects, such as creating a repulsive or attractive force, or making objects heavy or so light they float, similar to what the Fence-Sitter of Iwa is capable of, only we don't have to be in physical contact with our targets to make that work. There are countless other practical applications to it as well. For example, this gauntlet here…" he removed his left gauntlet, showing his skin to be rather dark, but completely black, and held it out for the helpless jinchuriki to see. "When it was forged out of Titanium-Steel, while it was in its molten state, I used my powers to increase the "pull" if you will, of certain spots in the metal and made it far denser as a result. The downside of this far stronger protection is, well, this." He dropped the gauntlet, and it blasted a ten foot deep crater into the ground.

Utakata looked in shock at the smoke coming from the crater. "How can you walk around in an entire set of that?!"

"True, you would need more than intense strength to be able to casually move around in this, but that is not how I do it, though my strength is nothing to sneeze at. I simply constantly keep the armor light enough to wear with my power. It's a very basic yet effective chakra control exercise my clan used to use. Our reserves were always unnaturally high, but we practiced control to a point where we are very precise in the amount we can use. I daresay that my reserves are even higher than most jinchuriki's, but my control good enough to use medical ninjutsu."

Utakata growled as he struggled to rise, but he was still too heavy. Finally, red chakra bubbled forth, and he roared as there was an explosion of power, and Raizen found himself staring at the full power of a Bijuu as he put his gauntlet back on. **"Let's see your armor withstand this!" **Saiken bellowed as his six tails trailed in front of his mouth and a Bijuu Bomb began to form.

"Hmm, you seem to be under the impression that my armor is my best defense," Raizen said as the Bomb was fired right at him. _"I could just blast that away with my Gravity Manipulation's version of the Rinnegan's Shinra Tensei, but I think I will use this power instead to avoid getting rusty at it," _Raizen mused as his hand extended and he said, "Burakkuhōru!" Within his hand, a single black point no larger than the point of a pin appeared before it seemed to suck in the very light around it, creating a black void about the same size and shape as a Rasengan. He held the sphere before him, and the Bijuu Bomb struck it, only to simply be sucked right into in.

Saiken could only look in shock at the sphere, and Raizen gazed right at him. "This is the ultimate result of Gravity Manipulation," Raizen stated, as his feet left the ground, clearly him using his power to levitate. "Now let me show you how it applies to create my absolute defense. Ginga no Chūshin!" About twenty more of the spheres appeared around Raizen and they seemed to "orbit" around him. He crossed his arms and said, "Your move."

Saiken desperately formed the largest Bijuu Bomb he possibly could, and swallowed it. The resulting beam of compressed chakra went straight at Raizen, devastating the landscape, and hitting Raizen, who made no attempt to dodge, clearly confident in his defense. Sure enough, none of the chakra even touched Raizen, and all of the voids sucked in the chakra.

"You Bijuu are powerful, but your power is insufficient to even wound me. I don't even need the Sharingan I acquired to face you, so I won't use it. But, I am certainly eager to show you why only your "father" has ever been able to best me in single combat."

Saiken was well and truly speechless. This guy had fought against the Rikudou Sennin?

"Now that you've seen my absolute defense, it is time to show you my absolute offense," Raizen declared as he clasped his hands together. "But don't worry. I will weaken the attack enough to allow you to survive. I do need you alive after all." A single one of the voids glowed pure white. "Kuēsā." The surrounding area was engulfed in a blinding radiance.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

"This is going to be the best joke Suna will ever see," Akari sniggered as she and her partner made their plans to get into the Suna Council chambers without getting caught.

"I can't wait to see the footage of the council member's faces when they get a load of how we portray their leaders," Konohamaru laughed as he made adjustments to the video camera they would hide in the room to see the reactions of the victims when the prank was done.

They were just agreeing on the final details of their big joke, when there was a shout of, "Hey, Akari!" from Daisuke, and both of the pranksters looked up to see Daisuke run up. "Just got finished training with Sasuke-Sensei for the day," Daisuke said. "Do you want to go to the ramen stand with me? My treat."

"Awesome! Let's go, Konohamaru!" Akari said, and Daisuke's face fell slightly. He had been hoping for just the two of them.

Meanwhile, Konohamaru noticed the way Daisuke looked at Akari, and found he did not like what he saw. _"Don't tell me he has a crush on her too!" _Konohamaru thought frantically. _"Heck no, I gotta make sure I impress Akari at the exams by beating him so she will like me better for sure!"_

_"Don't get me wrong, I like Konohamaru a lot, he's a funny guy," _Daisuke thought_. "But if he and I both like the same girl, there can be no holds barred. They do say all's fair in love and war after all. Well, when Aunt Azami told me that, she hastily added, "Except no hitting," but does she really call that war?"_

_"I am totally going to kick his ass in our match!" _Both Daisuke and Konohamaru thought at the same time.

…..

"That was sooner than I expected," Pain said as all eight figures appeared in the cave on the fingertips of the Gedo Mezo. Raizen and Zetsu strolled into the cave with the captured jinchuriki under Raizen's arm.

Raizen shrugged before he set Utakata down and flew up to his place on the statue, while Zetsu simply did his plant growing thing to his tip. "We were lucky enough for Zetsu to locate him quickly and I can get around fast, and I was able to subdue him without any trouble. Hopefully, we will get our first bijuu with no interruptions this time."

_"Well, we do have a good portion of the Nanabi's chakra now," _Tobi thought as he spied on the proceedings form a hidden hollow area in the top of a wall in the corner of the cave. _"If we are unable to claim the whole thing later, that part will have to suffice for my goal of bringing back the Juubi."_

_"Seems Tobi is keeping an eye on things,"_Kabuto mused as the process to extract the Bijuu from Utakata began, though he gave no indication he knew Obito was around._ "But of course, he is the true leader of the Akatsuki."_

_Flashback_

_"It seems you know that Pain is merely a figurehead in the grand scheme of things," Tobi said as he approached the snakelike boy from behind._

_"Well, you did try to work with my former master after all," Kabuto replied as he pushed up his glasses and turned around. "I believe that you wanted to make sure you had an ally in the shadows when the time came to seize power in this organization and also make sure you could beat that Raizen character. Is he really so threatening to someone who dares to use the name of Madara?"_

_"What are you talking about?" Tobi demanded as his single visible eye narrowed. "I am Madara, not some imposter."_

_"Really? Then who is this I have here?" Kabuto asked as he clapped his hands together and a coffin came out of the ground, and the lid popped off._

_"What?" Tobi demanded as he saw who was in it. "Grr, it seems as if you and that master of yours have ultimately figured even my greatest secret out. But where did you find the DNA to summon Madara?"_

_"I have a few secrets of my own, so I certainly know how to keep yours. No one else knows. I also have Hashirama's DNA, but I am not fully confident I have the ability to control him, so I have yet to actually use him."_

_"Hmm," Tobi said as he thought something over. "Tell me, just whose side are you on?"_

_"Whichever side has the best chance to win, and can benefit me the most," Kabuto said with brutal honesty. _

_"I suppose that is good enough for now. Come with me," Tobi said as he grabbed Kabuto by the shoulder and teleported them to the hideout where he had the Gedo Mezo usually stored when not in use by Pain or to extract Bijuu. They came face to face with Hashirama's living clone._

_"Interesting," Kabuto said as he gazed intently at said clone. "I take it that stolen cells were used to grow this, either by you or Madara while he was still aliv,e correct? For what purpose is this around?"_

_"Mainly to supply me with an army," Tobi said. "I planned on using that and the chakra within Gedo Mezo after a few Bijuu were absorbed by it to create as many clones of White Zetsu as course, those would not be very powerful, but they have their own trump cards to play. However, if you were to put the Edo Tensei of Hashirama into the clone, we may be able to use his power to spawn more and possibly increase the power of the clones."_

_"The thought would have crossed my mind as well. How many clones do you think that will help make by the time we need them?"_

_"If we do it right, we should have tens of thousands, and if we are able to claim a few full bijuu before we need to use the army for anything, we should have over 100,000, and that's a low estimate."_

_"Very well then, consider it done," Kabuto said as a coffin came out of the ground._

_End Flashback_

_"Tobi is very well planned and has the power of both Mangekyo Sharingan and Hashirama Senju at his disposal," _Kabuto thought._ "I wonder just what about Raizen scares him so much. I have yet to actually see him in action."_

**A/N: It's time for another poll! Who gets to end up with Akari? Will it be Daisuke, or Konohamaru? The loser will get Hanabi later on.**

**For those of you who are concerned I made Raizen too powerful, he is ridiculously strong, yes. But there will be ways to beat his attacks, that aren't super powerful jutsu themselves. Well, they are powerful jutsu, but not on the same level as Raizen's, but they actually can beat him if used right. **

**The final exams start next chapter! We will see Haku vs Itettsu, and Udon vs Kiyoshi! Place your bets folks!**

**There is something coming up soon, and there is a hint on my profile! Cookie for anyone who guesses!**

**Please review! If you don't… (looks at Naruto, who summons his dragon and hydra) I will bribe the main character with another scene at Ichiraku's to set these guys on you!**


	56. Chapter 55: Return

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Holy shit! I have a whole ton of reviews for the last chapter, thank you all!**

**Here are the results of the poll!**

**Daisuke: 14**

**Konohamaru: 8**

**Looks like Daisuke will be the one who gets paired with Akari, sorry Kono fans! **

**Time to start the exams!**

**Chapter 55: Return**

"Hard to believe we are going to be returning in two weeks, huh?" Naruto asked as he turned part of his arm into some kind of machine. "Man, the Asura Path just feels odd to use."

"I would prefer for your Rinnegan training to be complete before you returned, but Itachi had a message returned," Felix said. "The Akatsuki are active enough to justify returning to your dimension despite the development with the Rinnegan. In fact, we already are later than originally planned."

"Well, I already have gotten to Nagato's level with most of the Paths, and I should have a better grasp of them by the end of the two weeks. Do you know what Bijuu the Akatsuki have laid claim to yet?"

"About half of the Nanabi, and we have reason to believe that the Rokubi has been captured. Kiri's ANBU had spotted it a distance away, but before they could investigate, some flash of light engulfed a large area of the forest, and the leading group had been inside that area. They were not seen since, so it's safe to assume they got vaporized by whatever the light Itachi mentioned in his message was."

Naruto thought about that, and said, "The only Akatsuki member capable of that I can think of is Deidara, but he would have to blow himself up for that. I wonder if someone from this dimension is responsible instead."

"It seems likely, and if they would use that to capture a Bijuu, they will be incredibly powerful. I do not look forward to fighting most of these foes to be honest. Though I will enjoy the chance to kill Caius for what he did with my father's soul. That Edo Tensei Jutsu truly is…cruel."

Hinata looked a little scared at the thought that they would soon have to return and face the Akatsuki. She was scared for Naruto, and she wanted him to get at least a little stronger before he risked fighting against them and the new foes. But she also knew that was a good reason for her to strive and get strong enough to face them alongside Naruto. She was definitely stronger than she had been before, but she still felt she would not be strong enough to defend Naruto if she had to.

Naruto noticed this and said, "Hinata, don't worry. You are strong enough to fight against most of our foes, and I think you can hold your own against the strongest of them. Trust me, when we get back, your enemies won't even know what hit them."

…..

"Busted!" Kankuro shouted as he, Temari, Gaara, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Sakura burst out of hiding as Akari and Konohamaru approached the Kazekage's statues with paint in hand. They gave small jumps of surprise before Gaara's sand wrapped around their ankles and they were being dangled upside down.

"Aw man, how did you find out it was us Sasuke-Sensei?" Akari grumbled while still upside down, and the six apprehenders face palmed.

"Like it was that hard?" Sasuke grumbled.

"Well, Kankuro needed a little help figuring it out himself," Temari said.

"I did not! I was just playing along to lull them into a false sense of security!" Kankuro defended.

"Riiiiiiiggghhhhhhtttttt," all seven others present said cynically, causing Kankuro to face fault.

"So what do we do with you two?" Gaara asked. "We could just throw you out of the exams for your jokes."

Both genin paled as they hastily began begging, "No, please, anything but that!"

"Well, I have an idea," Kankuro said as he rose, an evil grin on his face that scared Akari and Konohamaru shitless. "If they are willing to accept a little "poetic justice" I will dish out, they can stay in the exams."

Despite their misgivings about the look Kankuro was giving them, they quickly agreed to do so.

….

The next day, there was an eight hour show in the square of Suna. Wearing make-up that made them look like puppets, Akari and Konohamaru were actually being used as them by Kankuro, and they were made to do a slapstick comedy special. B y the time the show was over, Akari had been made to kick Konohamaru's crotch five times, Konohamaru had retaliated with several punches to her gut, there were a few times when both were made to try to poke each other in the eyes with that two finger gag, and at one point, Kankuro made Akari try to strangle Konohamaru with his own scarf. "Now this is entertainment," Sasuke grinned as he filmed the entire ordeal. "I bet they wish they had thought twice about messing with us." He chuckled again as Akari was guided right into a pitfall trap by Kankuro's strings.

Needless to say, Akari and Konohamaru were mentally declaring war on the puppet master.

…...

"Well, I hope you learned your lesson?" Sasuke asked Akari sternly as he watched her do the water walking exercise while sticking leaves to her body, and with a sponge in one hand and a stone in the other. A stick was in her mouth. She was trying to simultaneously make the sponge wet, the stone crumble, and the stick grow a few leaves while her mind was occupied on yet two other tasks, something which required very fine chakra control, which Sasuke had had her do almost nonstop for the past two years.

"Yeah, don't get caught again," Akari mumbled through the stick, and Sasuke face palmed.

"No, I mean that you should have learned not to pull such childish pranks in the first place."

"Aw come on Duck-Butt Sensei, they make life fun," Akari said as the stone crumbled into dust, and the stick had exactly three leaves, the amount Sasuke had made her specifically go for. She squeezed the sponge, and water poured out.

Sasuke froze, though not at the feat she had just done. "You just called me Duck-Butt Sensei…"

"Yeah, so? I call you that all the time… oh yeah, the bet! Oops…"

Sasuke started to sweat as Akari came ashore and handed him his money. So far, her luck had always seemed to be exactly like Naruto's, meaning that she always won her bets, unless something bad was going to happen soon. Come to think of it, Sasuke had started to have an uncomfortable feeling that was getting stronger as the days passed.

_"Come off of it, there was no way she was going to win that bet," _Sasuke thought as he tried to reassure himself. _"She couldn't go a week, let alone a month without calling me that stupid nickname. It would be prudent to keep an eye out for danger, but I need to be sure not to obsess."_

….

"Omigosh, Lady Tsunade, you are on a winning streak!" Shizune gushed as Tsunade put her hand down, showing a straight flush, which beat her opponent's full house.

"Gah, how do we keep losing?" one of the other players cursed. "This is the Legendary Sucker, for Kami's sake!"

Tsunade was meanwhile deep in thought, her hand on her forehead. _"This can't lead to anything good… come to think of it, why do I even gamble when I either always lose, or I win, and it turns out to be an omen?_

…..

"Take that, four of a kind!" Naruto shouted at Mathew as they and Felix were also playing poker at the moment, along with Felix. Mathew cursed as his flush was beaten, but then Felix cleared his throat and put down a royal flush. "Gah!" Naruto shouted as Felix took the play chips from him (They had agreed long ago not to play for money, because that would just be giving Naruto free cash). Felix and Naruto both paused and looked at each other, the same thought running through their minds at the same time. _"Uh-oh…"_

…

On Mount Myoboku, two men who were in meditative poses gave a small shudder, and they looked at each other, both having the same yellow eyes with a block-like pupil in them and a sort of reddish pigment around the eyes.

"Hey Jiraiya… did you feel that too?" Minato asked his former teacher.

The white haired man nodded solemnly. "Yeah, this is the same feeling that normally comes when Tsunade-hime starts winning bets that don't involve Naruto. And so far that only happened before Orochimaru-teme left the village, and before the Kyuubi was set loose on the village."

"...Shit," they both said at once.

"I'm going to consult my spy network again," Jiraiya declared as his Sage Mode wore off.

"Good idea."

….

The day of the exams had finally arrived, and the seats were rather packed. There was a bit of excitement over these semi-annual exams, since a team led by one of the Kazekage's sons would be participating, and two kage descendants were also in said exams.

The Kazekage looked up from his seat as three figures entered the Kage box. "Ah, nice to see you made the trip, Itachi-san," the Kazekage said.

Itachi gave a bow of respect and said, "I wouldn't miss this for the world." He sat down in the seat prepared for him, flanked by Kushina and Azami. Baki and a nameless Sand jonin were also present to ensure their kage's safety.

"I believe we have already met once or twice, Kushina-san," the Kazekage said as he inclined his head to the red head. "But I don't believe I am acquainted with your other guard, Itachi."

"I happen to be his girlfriend," Azami said, and the Kazekage **(A/N: Seriously, why didn't Kishimoto give this guy a name? I think I should just give him one myself for the purposes of my story.) **nodded. "I am also the aunt of Daisuke Uchiha, one of the exam participants, Kazekage-Sama."

"I see, it was kind of you to bring the relatives of two of your exam participants," the Kazekage said to Itachi, who chuckled nervously.

"Ah yes, they can be quite… persuasive when they want to be," Itachi said as he started to sweat, with both women behind him giving him dangerous smirks.

…

"Good to be back," Naruto muttered as he, Hinata, Felix, Alex and (against their better judgment) Isaac presented the tickets that had been bought for them ahead of time to the gate guards of Suna. Isaac had decided to come to Naruto's dimension to participate in the fight against the Akatsuki, since he was not kept on very active duty by the Elder Dimension higher ups. They had tried very hard to dissuade him, knowing his eccentric tendencies, but he just did not take no for an answer **(A/N: This ought to be good, hehehe…)**.

"Come on, we had better go find Sasuke and the others," Felix said. "I think you guys should catch up at least a little bit before the exams start."

"Ketchup!" Isaac said as he looked around. "Where? That stuff is so good on fries!"

"Knew bringing him along was a bad idea," Naruto deadpanned, and everyone else nodded. As soon as they were out of sight of the gate guards, Naruto slapped his hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" A small black fox with Rinnegan eyes appeared.

"Oh hey, Naruto-Sama," the fox said. This Rinnegan summon was the only one Naruto had decided to create a soul for. Naruto had decided that after he had the theory for the technique, he should at least attempt it once to be sure he could do so, in case he ever found that he actually needed it. After both the physical and mental drain of using the Creation of All Things for that purpose, Naruto had come to the conclusion that he should not do that very often. This creation was made by Naruto for scouting purposes, which he was very good for, since he had the ability to send a sort of subconscious message to Naruto to activate his Rinnegan, so their lines of sight could be linked.

"I need you to scout around the village for me, Zenko," Naruto said. "I went into Sage Mode just a little bit ago to pinpoint our friends and noticed that here seems to be a group of people in the village that are suppressing their chakra somehow to avoid detection, though I was still able to get a general read on them.

"Alright, consider it done," Zenko said, before he ran into an alleyway to look around the village.

**"Funny you chose to try giving a mind to a fox of all things,"** Kurama chuckled.** "Hehe."**

"I hope you're wrong about any bad hunches you may have, Naruto-kun," Hinata said nervously.

"So do I, Hinata."

…..

"Once again, congratulations for making it this far into the exams!" Gaara told the twelve genin in front of him. The arena they stood in had a sandy center, though there were a few trees and cacti around the edges. "Now then, a final reminder on the rules ant the matchups." He proceeded to inform them of the said things.

"Hey, long time no see," Naruto said as he and Hinata entered the box for participants and jonin instructors. Sasuke turned to face his friend. "I like your new outfit by the way, much better than what you were wearing before," Naruto continued, obviously referring to what Sasuke had worn at this point in time at the previous timeline. For those who have forgotten, Sasuke was now garbed in something similar to an ANBU uniform, but without the mask, and he had the Uchiha crest on the back of it.

"Yeah, well I see you have still not abandoned your taste for weird orange jumpsuits," Sasuke replied as he looked over the fact that Naruto had the same thing he had last time. Hinata had also changed her outfit very little.

"What's wrong with orange?" Naruto asked defensively, and Sasuke smiled.

"It would be easier to tell you what was right with it."

Naruto face faulted. "I actually happen to like orange, you jerk!"

"Well, that's one checked off on the longer list then."

"Why I oughta-."

"Will both of you stop it?!" Sakura shouted at them, using the Big Head Jutsu known to all chunin instructors. "This is the first time in two years you two have seen each other, and you are already going at it?!"

"Sorry Sakura!" both boys said hastily, weeping anime tears of fear as they did so. Hinata giggled.

"So Hinata," Sakura said to her fellow kunoichi. "How was the training trip you went on with Naruto-baka and Felix?"

"Well, it was very interesting…" Hinata stalled, knowing that Sakura was not to know the sensitive details, such as the fact it was an entirely different dimension they were in.

"Come on, details, details!" Saskura demanded. Hinata was saved when a Sand jonin entered the box.

"The exams are about to start. I am afraid that you two are going to have to go to your seats."

"Aw well, see ya guys later," Naruto said as he and Hinata hurried out.

"I wonder just how much stronger Naruto has gotten over the past two years," Sasuke said. "Knowing him for as long as I have, I would bet all of my ryo that nothing would surprise me."

…..

"All genin other than the two current combatants please leave the arena," Gaara said. "We shall start the match soon." Once his request had been complied with, Haku and Ittetsu faced one another, the latter looking extremely nervous about his foe. "Remember, if I feel that the fight has gone far enough, I will step in and declare the winner," Gaara said. "Begin!"

**(A/N: OST Shippuden plays)**

Ittetsu wasted no time in throwing several kunai at Haku, who responded by throwing several of his own weapons at Ittetsu's. _"Senbon?" _ the Sand genin though as his weapons were deflected. _"That means this girl- I mean guy, focuses on accuracy above all else."_

"Wind Style: Gust Senbon!" Haku shouted as he made seals.

"Wind Style?" Ittetsu asked as near invisible senbon made of air stuck him in a few spots almost instantaneously. He staggered back and recovered, charging Haku as he did so. _"This guy clearly uses long range attacks, so I need to close the distance and attack fast," _Ittetsu thought as Haku bagen casting signs again. Ittetsu smirked slightly as he turned one of his silver arm guards just right and flashed the sun's reflection straight into Haku's eyes, causing the Yuki to wince, but he kept at his signs.

"Water Style: Hydro Missile!" A large sphere of water bigger than a usual liquid bullet was fired from Haku's mouth at his oncoming foe, who was prepping a jutsu of his own.

"Earth Style: Charging Earth Wall!" Ittetsu shouted and a barrier of stone appeared between him and Haku, taking the water blast dead on as it moved at the Yuki, pushed forward by the Sand genin. Haku was struck by the barrier and thrown back, only to turn into water. "A Water Clone? When did he-," Ittetsu started to ask before he felt the temperature plummet. "What the-," he said as several mirrors made of ice appeared around him.

"Sorry, but you are already beaten," Haku said as his image appeared in each mirror. "Surrender now if you don't want to get hurt."

"Like I will go down that easy!" Ittetsu shouted as he cast signs, having deduced the fact that Haku's jutsu was meant to attack from all sides. "Earth Style: Rock Dome Barrier!" He was quickly encased in said defense, and Haku began his assault, only to find the dome hard to penetrate with low power senbon, regardless of speed.

"In that case…" Haku said as he formed a large icicle around one of his arms. "This will slow me a bit, but it won't be enough to make a difference. Ice Style: Certain Kill Spear." He attacked again, this time, his weapon penetrating the dome and stopping just short of impaling Ittetsu through the head.

"Earth Style: Exploding Rock!" Ittetsu shouted, causing his barrier to fly off in all directions, and blasting Haku back. Several boulders impacted the mirrors, though they did no damage to the ice. Ittetsu followed oup with more kunai at his downed target, and they hit the Yuki, only for him to dissolve into water again. "What?" Ittetsu asked before he felt a prick in his neck and promptly lost all feeling from that point down causing him to go down.

"Sorry about that," Haku said. "But I did say I you were already beaten."

"How did you switch yourself with two Water Clones?" Ittesu asked from the ground.

"That first one was when I had hit you with my Gust Senbon. While you winced in pain, I made the clone and circled around behind you. The second one was the moment my Certain Kill Spear was forced to stop by your jutsu."

"But I did not even notice," Ittetsu protested. "You would have had to move so fast to have taken those short windows…"

"Exactly. Speed is my greatest ally."

"But if you were that fast, why didn't you just end it earlier? All it would have taken was one senbon right where you just got me, and I would have been down like I am now."

"You're right, I could have. But that would have denied you the chance to show your own abilities to the judges and at least have a chance to make chunin."

"You were helping me out?"

"Not quite, I merely let you have a few openings to show what you were capable of," Haku said before he rose and said, "You should be able to move again in a few minutes."

"The winner of the first match is Haku Yuki!" Gaara shouted to the crowd, all of whom cheered as Haku helped Ittetsu back to the genin's box.

"You ready to take on Kiyoshi?" Konohamaru asked Udon, who nodded nervously. Both combatants of the second match entered the arena and faced each other intently.

"Good luck Kiyoshi!" Akari shouted at her comrade, who gave a small smile.

"Begin!" Gaara shouted and Udon immediately jumped back throwing a few kunai at Kiyoshi as he did so. Kiyoshi was able to dodge all of them before whipping out his crossbow and firing a bolt at Udon, who actually caught the deadly projectile a few inches from his chest.

"Nice reflexes," Kiyoshi whistled as he cast a few signs, his seemingly unloaded crossbow held between his arm and side. "Lightning Style: Shock Bullet!" He fired a sphere of lightning chakra from his hand at Udon, who was able to avoid it and ran at Kiyoshi, who was trying to reload his crossbow. Udon took out a kunai as he closed in, thinking himself safe from Kiyoshi's weapon until it was reloaded, only for Kiyoshi to level the bow and fire the hidden bolt at near point blank range.

Udon was fast enough to just barely avoid the bolt, though it grazed the side of his head. Kiyoshi put his weapon away and engaged Udon in close quarters taijutsu. It was clear that they were both skilled at it but eventually Udon was able to kick Kiyoshi in the gut and throw him back, as well as throw and exploding kunai at his opponent. Kiyoshi recovered fast enough to regain his feet and jump to the side, though he was still caught in the blast, and thrown against the wall of the arena. Udon took out a few kunai and threw them at the injured foe, though he kept one as he attempted to close in again. Kiyoshi took out one of his own kunai and deflected the thrown ones with it, discretely casting a few signs with his other hand. "Demonic Illusion: Hiding Limb Jutsu," he muttered.

Udon got close enough to stab his kunai forward, but Kiyoshi rolled out of the way, and got to his feet. He then tried to bring his kunai down on Udon by raising his arm and stabbing downward. Udon tried to stab Kiyoshi as well, and used his free hand to try to grab Kiyoshi's kunai arm as it came down at him. Kiyoshi also made to grab Udon's kunai wrist.

Udon was not surprised when he felt his own wrist grabbed by Kiyoshi. He was surprised however when his hand just went through Kiyoshi's wrist, and Kiyoshi's arm seemed to disappear, right as Udon felt the point of a kunai he could not see at his throat. He looked down and saw Kiyoshi's arm shimmer into view, holding the kunai to his opponent's neck. "What did you do?" Udon asked.

"I used a low powered genjutsu called Hiding Limb," Kiyoshi said. "In short, it creates an illusion of any of my limbs that I choose and renders my actual limb invisible. While you were occupied with my false arm, my actual arm got to you as a result."

"The winner is Kiyoshi!" Gaara shouted and the crowd roared their approval.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: First of all, I would like to introduce a new review response segment! I will be responding to reviews of the last chapter at the end of each new chapter, and I hope this encourages more reviews, though I will warn flamers here and now that I will fight fire with fire!**

**RegenerateLPs:**

**I REALLY want that cookie, so, I'll hazard a guess, and say your profile will have a poll to vote for who will fight Raizen in the future. As far as the chapter goes, it was great! It seems Daisuke and Konohamaru are going to go all out to win Akari. Also can't believe Saiken and Utakata were taken out with a flick of the wrist. Can't wait for the next chapter!**

**rasENshur1KEn:**

**Nope, you will have to look on my profile and see for yourself what is approaching. And I never said it had anything to do with the story, it is actually a certain day. And there was also a previous poll on who will fight Raizen later, and the winners were Itachi, Jiraiya, and Felix. It will be one of the earlier fights though, and they won't beat him.**

**Kaorilamb:**

**Akari is nine?! the boys are what? 14 and 13? no man. i hate to think what her dad and brother would say much less her mother. they will kill the boys. i would**

**rasENshur1KEn:**

**First of all. Daisuke is 11, and Konohamaru is 12 right now. Akari is 9, yes, but it is not that much of an age difference. Second of all, people with differences in age get married all the time, even if relationships are more common when they are closer to the same age. However, there are people a few years older than their spouses and there is nothing wrong with that. I actually know a married couple where the husband is nearly twenty years older than his wife! I think that is seriously pushing it myself, but I don't judge, and we are only talking about a few years of a difference in this story. Get over it! And before you say anything, I am not a pedophile either for having characters care for one another at that young age. I don't write lemons anyway, but I certainly don't write those kind. **

**beisenman1892:**

**One again a great chapter. happy to finally see some,of raizens,moves. Akari and konohamaru are in for it now.**

**rasENshur1KEn:**

**You were certainly right about Akari and Konohamaru getting it, and I certainly hope you enjoyed that brand of karma. I was glad to finally get to write about some of Raizen's moves myself.**

**cook563:**

**I think Daisuke should get with Akari. Konohamaru and Hanabi make an interesting pair. as for everything else good chapter, keep up the good work I'm looking forward to the final exam. i wonder Who will win it all and who will become Chunin.**

**rasENshur1KEn: Care to place a few bets in a review?**

**Titokhan:**

**knew Temari would figure it out pretty quickly, since she's as smart as her boyfriend. Akari and Kono are soooo busted. since Hanabi gets the loser, is it safe to assume the Hyuugas will be making the trip to suns for the finals? as she does need to be impressed enough with whoever loses to consider it (and gives Hiashi an excuse to sharpen the family sword heheh)**

**Raizen really is a beast. fortunately for us, so is Naruto. I would thing he at least has shukaku or matabari level chakra reserves all on his own now (not even accessing Kurama's reserves). and unconventional attacks and tactics are his calling card. by the time they meet he'll be able to call on kurama's full power I would hope as well. will be a fight worth at least a few chapters**

**rasENshur1KEn: Hope you enjoyed their punishment, gotta give me points for creativity. And no, the Hyuugas will not be traveling to Suna, and the outcome of the fight between the two of them will have absolutely no impact on who gets Akari. As for your assessment on Raizen, I totally agree that the final fight will be worth quite a few words once Obito and Raizen and possibly the Juubi are ready for the final confrontation.**

**gameipedia:**

**have kono lose, konohana is like a chibi naruhina but with tsundere-ness it's so fricken cute! DO IT! please Author-Sama also good chapter**

**rasENshur1KEn:**

**Author-Sama… :D… I like that!**

**Now that I have responded to the reviews, who do you all think will win between Genyumaru and Akari? Cookie for anyone who places a correct bet!**

**Please review!**


	57. Chapter 56: Intense Battle

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I am loving the amount of reviews I am getting, please, please keep it up!**

**Let's see how Akari fares against good old Genyumaru!**

**Chapter 56: Intense Battle**

"It is time for Akari Namikaze and Genyumaru to come down and face each other," Gaara said. Akari gulped nervously. She may be a genius that had trained her butt off under Sasuke's tutelage, but Genyumaru was one of Zabuza's students for the past two years, and supposedly on the same level as Haku, who Akari knew to be jonin level by now.

"Yeah Akari, kick his ass!" two voices shouted at once, one from the kage box and the other from the stands. Akari gave a small jump and looked up to see her mom leaning over the edge to shout encouragement, held back by a frantic Itachi and Azami to keep her from falling over the edge in her excitement.

Heh, that's my mom," Akari chuckled before she looked over to where the other voice came from, to see her brother in the stands also shouting encouragement. "When did Big Brother get back?" she asked, before she smiled to herself. Immature as her family was, it did give her a lot of heart to hear their encouragement. "I can do this," she breathed before she looked up at the genin box where she saw Sasuke give her a nod. If anything could have bolstered her confidence more that in already had been, it was that.

Genyumaru was already waiting for her in the center of the arena, looking confident himself, though he was privately considering all of her abilities and was mentally worried about facing a wood style user. He was cautious himself and would not allow himself to underestimate his opponent. Wordlessly, he unsealed his signature spiked ball and chain. Akari gulped again when she got a good look at the size of it, and despite its mass, she knew that Genyumaru was by no means slow and clumsy with it. But she steeled herself and prepared.

"Ironic," Zabuza mused. "We have ourselves the youngest in the exams vs. the oldest."

"Never thought of it that way," Sasuke replied.

"Do you think Akari can win?" Konohamru asked.

"I have faith in her," Dasiuke said, and Zabuza snorted.

"I would not count on it, she is talented yes, but Genyumaru is an absolute monster on the battlefield," he said. "He handled a B Rank mission almost singlehandedly, though the mission was hardly ranked accurately, the foes were absolute pansies. Haku could have done things with more finesse, but Genyumaru's way was undoubtedly faster. In terms of combat, he is the strongest Leaf genin around, though Haku is definitely smarter and beats him in spars most of the time. Akari won't beat him, I can vouch for that."

"That's why it is called a bet," Sasuke said. "It would be no fun if both of us knew from the get-go who would emerge triumphant. And I said my money was on Akari didn't I? She may be young, but she is the right kind of prodigy."

"Right kind?" Daisuke asked.

"Meaning that even though she is a natural born genius, she still puts her heart and soul into all of her efforts," Sasuke said. "Something you and she both have in common, Daisuke."

"Huh? Me? I'm not that good," Daisuke said, while Konohamaru clenched his fists at the thought that Akari and Daisuke where alike in some way.

"Don't sell yourself short. While Akari is still a good bit stronger than you, you are a prodigy in your own right and you don't let it go to your head."

**(A/N: OST Hidden Will to Fight Plays)**

"Begin!" Gaara shouted. Akari was fast to jump back as fast as she could, while Genyumaru closed the distance at an unbelievable speed himself. While Haku was faster, Genyumaru was fast enough to keep up if a fight between them occurred. Akari was worried as Genyumaru launched his spiked ball right at her at an alarming speed she knew she could not easily dodge in midair. Keyword: Easily.

A wooden pole shot out of her hand and slammed into the ground, vaulting her up, out of range of the deadly ball. She launched herself off of said pole and above Genyumaru's head as his weapon smashed through the pole. "Earth Style: Stone Bullet!" she shouted as she and she sent a clod of rock the size of a human head at the back of Genyumaru's head from her position above him.

Surprisingly, the attack hit dead on, shattering against Genyumaru's head, but he didn't even flinch. He simply stopped and cracked his neck a few times by pushing his head with his hand. "Holy crap, that guy is like a tank!" Konohamaru said as he stared at the fact that Genyumaru was almost totally unfazed by such a brutal hit.

"Of course," Zabuza said as they watched Genyumaru charge at Akari again, and she was quickly put on the defensive by her older opponent. "While his Kekkei Genkai is not the Sharingan or one of the other more acknowledged bloodlines, the way it makes him naturally stronger and more durable without even needing to consciously use chakra is nothing to sneeze at, and when he actually does use chakra to boost his durability, he is nearly indestructible. Nothing short of a mid B Rank jutsu will harm him in the slightest."

Akari immediately jumped over another swing from Genyumaru's weapon and clasped her hands together, resigned to losing a ton of her chakra. "Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" Genyumaru's eyes widened as the ground itself seemed to rip apart and a large number of roots tore their way free from the crust of the earth. Genyumaru quickly jumped back, and smashed a root that tried to wrap around his leg with his spiked ball.

"Wood style?" Naruto gasped and Hinata also made a small exclamation. "I thought that pole she used earlier was a stored one, but she can actually use wood style instead? Damn, she's going to be a beast in a few years if she isn't one already…" Hinata smiled her agreement.

Sasuke smirked. _"Bet the Dobe is far more surprised right now than anything he could do now would surprise me."_

"Yosh, show Genyumaru the power of your youth, Akari!" a familiar voice shouted and both Naruto and Hinata whipped around to see Lee and Tenten a few rows behind them, the latter sweat dropping.

"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked after getting over his initial shock of seeing them here.

"Lee won tickets to see these exams, and he invited me along," Tenten said.

"Huh," Naruto said as Akari took a perch on top of one of the higher branches, panting slightly.

_"Okay, so I can get away with not taking a food pill for a little while now," _Akari thought. _"So I had better save it for now. Or I could take it after doing this." _She bit her thumb and wove several signs as she made her plans. "Summoning Jutsu!" Several monkeys appeared, a few being the small messenger types, and the other two being the combat assassin type she had used on two Iwa genin during the second exams. Summoning the five monkeys drained her remaining reserves, so she popped one of her food pills. She felt the effect restore her reserves to a decent level almost instantly.

She yanked out a scroll and unsealed several oversized weapons from them. The roots of the forest she had summoned grabbed the tools and moved towards Genyumaru. According to Sasuke, this was a tactic often used by Hashirama in his life. Genyumaru started to move backwards to avoid the weapons, and found his feet bound by roots and the two combat apes Akari had summoned were closing in from behind.

He took in a deep breath. "Wind Style: Storm Wave!" he exhaled rapidly, and a blast of wind chakra burst from his entire body, slamming everything within a ten foot radius away from him, most strongly in front of him where he was exhaling. He tried to run at Akari then, but more and more roots beneath his feet kept on grabbing him, forcing him to instead jump up and slam his spiked ball into the ground to rid it of forestry.

Akari began casting signs again. "Wood Style: Flowering Trees!" Flowers came from the trees closest to Genyumaru and began to excrete some pollen, which Genyumaru hastily responded to by pulling his tunic over his nose and as an extra contingency, held his breath. He spun the chain of the spiked ball to produce a gust of wind to blow some of the pollen away, but more kept coming, continually produced by the flowers. Gritting his teeth, Genyumaru unsealed a vest covered in exploding tags, to the confusion of everyone else present. This confusion was further magnified as he slipped on the suicide vest and used the chain to blow away more pollen to clear the air in front of him before he pulled the front of his tunic back down and took in a deep breath as the tags ignited.

"Wind Style: Storm Wave!" He shouted again, timing the attack with the exact moment the tags went off. This resulted in the explosion being blown away from his body, and magnified the same way fire chakra is enhanced by wind chakra, and a good twenty foot radius circle of forest around him was blasted to smithereens. The result was a heavily forested hundred foot radius arena with a freshly made clearing, and the edges of said clearing burning.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"That's actually pretty creative," Naruto mused as he looked at the results of Genyumaru's handiwork, "But that is a rather risky double-edged sword," he continued as enough smoke cleared to show Genyumaru, with his skin smoking slightly, covered in high first degree and low second degree burns and his tunic almost completely shredded by the explosion.

"You're right," Hinata said, having had her Byakugan active since she saw Genyumaru take out the vest to try to figure out his strategy. "Even though his wind chakra pushes the flames away from his body, he still has a moment when the fanned flames are right up against his skin. That causes a good amount of backlash damage to him. If it weren't for that superhuman durability of his, he would have been hurt far worse."

Naruto nodded as he went into deep thought. _"Man, I knew Genyumaru had a great deal of potential ability, just based off of the fact that he got body jacked by that snake-teme, but this is ridiculous."_

**(A/N: OST Emergence of Talents plays)**

_"Okay…" _Akari thought as Genyumaru situated himself in the center of his newly made clearing. He took a look at the shredded remains of his tunic before tearing it off, baring his body from the waist up and causing a few fan girls in the stands to pass out from massive nose bleeds at the sight of his muscular physique, and also earning a few death glares from both fathers and boyfriends of said fan girls. _"He now has more breathing room now that the fact that the a part of the arena is no longer forested, but if he tries to come to me, he puts himself in danger by entering my element. As long as I stay in the forest, and make sure he has to think twice about coming after me, I should be fine." _

Her combat apes seemed to be thinking along the same lines and started unsheathing their throwing weapons as Genyumaru finished his casual stretching. He reached into his pouch, which was mostly unharmed due to the fact it was woven out of fire resistant fibers. "Darn, should have made sure my tunic was made the same way," he muttered as he pulled out another scroll. "It may have reduced the damage a good deal, and possibly stayed intact enough to still wear. Oh well, they say hindsight is always 20/20, but my foresight could use glasses."

His eyes narrowed as he took in the fact that Akari's smaller monkeys were busy setting booby traps to keep Genyumaru at bay, most of them involving several layers of trip wire and a rather liberal amount of explosive tags. _"Great, there is no way I can go in there and come out in one piece between her control of the forest, and those traps, so close range combat is out, at least until I can wear her down enough to make her control of the environment she created falter at least a little. Or unless I destroy enugh of the environment to So while it may not be my specialty, long range combat it is!"_ he thought as he unsealed about ten more spiked balls in a circle around him. Akari raised her eyebrows, wondering how he planned to wield eleven at once, before she noticed that none of these new ones had chains attached, but rather simple handles.

Her eyebrows went even higher as Genyumaru set down his chained ball and picked up one of the new ones. A horrible suspicion gripped her mind. _"Don't tell me he's…" _Her fear was confirmed when Genyumaru channeled wind chakra into the ball, spun twice to gain momentum, and hurled it at her with lethal accuracy. "Shit!" Akari shrieked as she hastily jumped to lower branches and backed further away into the forest as the deadly projectile blasted though the dense upper forest.

Kushina developed a tick mark. "Did my nine year old daughter just swear? Oh, when I find out who spoke so liberally around her, they are going to get it so bad…"

Sasuke sneezed and developed an ominous feeling that could only be described as utterly screwed.

Genyumaru again picked up a ball, but this time unsealed some more exploding tags to slap on the weapon, before hurling it into the woods again in Akari's general direction since he could no longer see her. As the ball impacted the vegetation, the tags went off, and the wind chakra infused in the weapon further fanned the flames, which burned out even more of the forest, this new clearing about fifteen feet, partially because Genyumaru had triggered the traps set by Akari's monkeys with his tools.

_"This isn't good," _Akari thought as she sighed with relief that the attack had not quite reached her. _"He's completely demolishing my forest." _ She winced as the third ball blasted through another section._"If he throws the remaining seven like that, I won't have enough cover to keep him at bay, and I don't have enough chakra left to make another forest, even with my food pills And without an environmental advantage, he will get close to me, it's only a matter of time, and if he does get close enough to engage in hand to hand combat, I am screwed. Only thing to do is end this now," _she finished her thought as she cast several hand signs, making a hasty plan, praying it would work.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," Genyumaru said as he hurled his fourth ball. It blasted through the forest, clearing a good deal more of it. He reached down for the fifth, but that is when Akari made her final gamble.

Several kunai with tags attached flew from the trees at Genyumaru, who hastily straightened up to grab his spiked ball and chain to make the gust of wind with to repel the attacks, only to see all five of Akari's monkeys already on it, the small ones having attached a bunch of ninja wires to the links of the thing, while the other two larger ones were tying the other ends to various trees. Genyumaru knew he would not get to use his main weapon to repel the attacks, so he simply punched at the oncoming kunai to deflect them off of his metal knuckles as far as possible from him before the tags could go off. Several of the explosions obscured his vision, and when all of them had gone off, doing almost no damage, he saw about thirty Wood Clones charging him while another Akari was throwing several wooden spikes she was producing at him.

"Using Wood Clones and projectiles to keep me at a distance and busy eh?" Genyumaru asked as he got into his taijutsu stance, avoiding two wood spikes as he did so. "Well, it won't work!" he shouted as he rushed at Akari's position, simply knocking all wooden spikes out of the air as they were thrown at him, and he closed with the small Wood Clone army. He easily mowed through twenty of them before one managed to tag his left shoulder with a basic chakra suppressing seal, though Genyumaru's chakra was so strong it only served to dampen his chakra enhanced abilities slightly before he roundhouse kicked the culprit into another clone, before he leapt at the original. Akari threw two more stakes, with tags attached, but Genyumaru once again deflected them though the explosions did a bit more damage this time due to the chakra seal reducing his durability slightly. His hand closed on her neck and she was slammed painfully into the ground.

He held his other fist over her face and stated, "I win."

**(A/N: End OST)**

He was surprised when she grinned at him and asked, "Think so?" before she turned into wood, showing her to be a clone all along, and with a final tag attached to her. Genyumaru's eyes widened as the tag went off in his face, disorientating him.

**(A/N: OST Heaven Shaking Event plays)**

"Rasengan!" he heard her voice behind him as the real Akari detached herself from her remaining clone group that Genyumaru had left behind and ignored in favor of taking out the "original." Genyumaru only had time to turn his head to look behind him when Akari smashed the sphere of spiraling chakra right between his shoulder blades, causing some bones to crack and break.

"Gah!" Genyumaru choked out as blood escaped his mouth and he was thrown forward into one of the trees, which he smashed halfway through before he came to a rest in the crater of the hard wood. "Can't… believe… I fell for such an obvious… ploy," Genyumaru said as he struggled to rise, and Akari fell on her butt herself, suffering from moderate chakra exhaustion.

"That's my sister alright," Naruto said proudly.

"Will Genyumaru be alright?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"He won't get anytime soon if past experience is anything to go on, but he is built tough enough to avoid mortal damage. As long as a medic sees him, he should be fine," Naruto reassured her.

Genyumaru managed to get to his knees before he collapsed again. "I guess you got me," he chuckled slightly as she got to her feet.

"Brain beats brawn any day!" Akari laughed, and Genyumaru would have face faulted if he wasn't already on the ground.

"You say that like I'm a dumb brute," he said, a little irked.

"Oh, you're not dumb, you're just not as smart as me," Akari replied. "And you rely on physical strength a bit too much."

"The winner of the third match is Akari Namikaze!" Gaara shouted as he used his sand to lift Genyumaru up and carry him in the direction of the medics with a stretcher. "Would Kiyoshi and Haku please come down, now that they have both rested?"

Akari groaned as she staggered slightly, before she accepted some assistance from Daisuke, who had beaten a privately fuming Konohamaru to the punch, in getting to the resting area.

**(A/N: End OST)**

Zabuza meanwhile fumed himself as he handed Sasuke some ryo. "Don't sweat it too much," Sasuke said with a grin. "There is still a chance of double or nothing if she faces Haku."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sensei," Kiyoshi grumbled as he headed down to the arena.

"Sorry Kiyoshi, I did say _if,_" Sasuke said, though he and Kiyoshi both knew full well that Haku would almost certainly beat him. Kiyoshi steeled himself before he leapt the railing for a fast entrance.

**A/N: Hope the major smack down was enjoyable! Give me an epic scale of 1 to 10 on it please! Now, for my responses to reviews:**

**Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros :**

**I love this already, The name Felix means 'luck' it is appropriate considering how Naruto has always had Luck on his side. And once again his 'luck' has allowed him to change fate. It amuses me.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**This may not have been a review from last chapter, but I felt I had to respond to it. Just one question… what the hell took so damn long to find one reviewer who made the connection here? Pardon my French, but you would think someone would think to say "luck" is on Naruto's side and Felix's name fits that theme. I actually forgot that was why I gave him that name because no one else made the connection.**

**Titokhan:**

**Liked the Punch and Judy, er Akari and Konohamaru show. but what's worse then pranksters? said pranksters looking for revenge. I wonder if Kankuro will recognize his puppets once Akari gets done with them (wooden puppets, meet angry 9 year old wood style user)**

no, its never a good thing when Tsunade gets on a hot streak while Naruto AND Akari lose bets is it? and wheres the usual teme and dobe lines from Naruto and Sasuke? that's always been a running joke between them for the most part (except when Sasuke is truly evil, then he's just using it to be a jerk)

Haku has always been a bit of a softie when fights didnt require killing. He could have ended that fight in seconds, but at least he gave Ittetsu a chance to show some of his skills. Because lets be honest, against a normal, non-hidden leaf shinobi, Ittetsu might have been good enough to win. But Kohona has this habit of churning out class after class of powerhouses

the Udon/Kiyoshi fight was short, yet entertaining. neither of them really stand much of a chance against either Haku or the winner of the Akari/Genyumaru fight.

my question is whether or not the invasion:part deux happens during the Akari/Genyumaru fight, or do they wait for something closer to the final match. I wonder if the Atakuski know just how many Kage (or close to it) level ninja (outside of themselves) are actually there? Naruto, Hinata, Felix, Sasuke, Kushina, itachi, Zabuza, Sakura, Haku, Genyumaru, Akari, Azami, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Shikamaru, Alex, under the right circumstances Issac, Gaara's father, Baki. The Suna portion of the multi-pronged attack is not going to end very well for the black cloaked bad guys.

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**(Blinks a few times before rubbing eyes) Man, I heard of talking ears off, but this is the first I have experienced in writing eyes out, lol. Not that I mind a lot of feedback. First of all, what was with the plural when you said seconds in Ittetsu's and Haku's fight? :P Sorry Ittetsu, but it's true. I feel sorry for Kankuro myself when they are done making revenge plans. Like they say, don't get mad, get even.**

**To answer your question on when the Akatsuki make their move, it will be after either Akari wins the whole tournament or until she loses, so she'll be easier to capture. And yes, the odds do not look heavily in the favor of the Akatsuki in this, due to the fact that there are a lot of jonin or above level fighters around, but don't forget that Caius has several Edo Tensei to even the odds a bit, and the Akatsuki are more than capable of being unfair when it comes to fighting.**

**SkyRune: **

**Hey rasEnshur1KEn, I finally caught up with reading for three days straight. it is a wonderful story. I got a few questions that I like you to answer. will you by chance add Hanabi (Hinatas little sister) to the story. I know that she is a minor character but I figure I would ask. she does hold some part for hinata to strive for her goal. anyway, for one of the Animal Paths, would you be using a sea-base animal or a flying one? unless the dragon can fly. I would love to see an ocean battle (check Naruto World Map) but that's just me. keep it up, your doing great.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yes, Hanabi will play a minor role in this story, other than being the one I pair up with Konohamaru. As for the questions of summons, yes, Naruto has a couple of fliers other than his dragon as well as a sea creature or two. **

**w1lliam: **

**Well it took a while with updates but Naruto is back. now to wait for 2 reactions:1 sasuke's reaction on the rinnegan and 2 Naruto's reaction on akari's wood style.**

Btw this story is gettin interesting

Cya:) William;)

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Sorry it took so long for Naruto to return, but I bet a lot of you are ready to see what kind of badass he is now. It is very soon now, and other than some Rinnegan summons, he also has a very nice idea with the Asura Path I can't wait to show, hehe…**

**gameipedia: **

**KonoXhana prevailed!**

Great chapter, and the triple reversed luck omen is going to have some major shit go down, and will sakura get her memories back, it just seems rude because she had some pretty major things with her during shippuden and such

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yep, that is a bad omen. Yes, Sakura will eventually get her memories back, after Naruto decides to share his Rinnegan powers with six friends, each Path will either have had their memories prior to that point, or have their memories restored then.**

**akatsukicolin:**

**YOUR BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP! YOU CAN HAVE A COOKIE!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Thank you! Yes, my birthday is soon, it is August 16.**

**falcoknights : **

**I liked the punishment they got they must have hurt after words. um in regards to the fight of genyumaru and akari i think akari will win after a long drawn out fight and last minute victory. keep up the good work.**

**rasEnshur1Ken: Thanks for the compliments, and the punishment really was poetic justice, wasn't it? And you were kind of right about Akari winning, though I bet no one was expecting Genyumaru to make that call.**

**Next three fights will be in the next chapter, bet you all are looking forward to them!**

**So as I told akatsukicolin, my birthday is rather soon, and who can guess what the gift I want for it is? Reviews! Even if all you want to say is Happy Birthday, I would very much appreciate the thought!**


	58. Chapter 57: Further Thinning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Glad I got so many reviews for the last chapter, please keep them up! Less than 250 to go before I hit 1,000! Three more matches in this chapter. **

**Chapter 57: Further Thinning**

**(A/N: OST Mission Plays)**

"Begin!" Gaara shouted at Kiyoshi and Haku. Haku immediately threw several senbon at his foe, and Kiyoshi was just barely fast enough to avoid the projectiles. Haku then practically materialized behind him and tired to strike the same spot he had done with Ittetsu in his previous bout, but Kiyoshi dove forward, avoiding this as well. While Kiyoshi was not nearly as fast as Haku, he was definitely a bit faster than Ittetsu and could react to Haku's attacks for now.

He turned his dive into a roll, and while he was still upside down, he managed to fire his crossbow at his foe, only for the lightning laced bolt to be dodged. Acting fast, Kiyoshi cast two signs. "Lighting Style: Shock Shield!" A burst of lightning chakra similar to a Chidori Stream came into being, and Haku almost ran right into it. As it was, he was barely able to stop his attack in time to avoid running right into the trap.

Haku jumped back and threw some more senbon, one of them tagging Kiyoshi in his shoulder. He skidded back, and said, "Darn. I was hoping to use your speed against you there."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but my reflexes are can keep up with me," Haku replied. Then he cast several signs with one had while throwing yet another handful of senbon, which Kiyoshi dodged, though he had to deflect a few of them with his crossbow. He aimed and fired again, but Haku simply sidestepped, and Kiyoshi threw some shuriken in Haku's path with his free hand. Haku actually ignored the shuriken and they phased through him, and the arm that threw the shuriken faded to show that Kiyoshi had used his Demonic Illusion again, and had been waiting for Haku to dodge the false kunai to catch him off guard.

All this happened within the span of a few seconds as Haku finished his seals. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bomb!" Haku shouted as he dodged the hastily thrown kunai Kiyoshi launched at him. The dragon made of water burst into being and slammed into Kiyoshi, who was thrown into one of the trees Akari had created. Haku then rushed forward again at a high speed, and Kiyoshi leveled his crossbow again with a smirk. He had in actuality cast a genjutsu on his crossbow, making Haku think he had already fired off his second arrow but the second shot he had supposedly taken was actually an illusion. This actually let him tag Haku in the thigh with the bolt as the Yuki had made his charge, causing Haku to falter in his charge.

The bolt was also laced with lightning chakra, but in a manner in which instead of having a serious cutting edge, but instead delivered a devastating electrical shock, causing the feminine boy to cry out in serious pain. Haku still managed to keep his balance however and cast a few hand signs that caused a bunch of icicles to form around Kiyosi, trapping him and threatening to impale him though several vital, and a few awkward, places.

"Proctor, I withdraw," Kiyoshi said, realizing he was at his opponent's mercy at this point.

"Haku Yuki is the winner!" Gaara shouted as Haku let the icicles melt back down into water.

"How were you able to track me so well?" Haku asked as he was forced to limp due to the damage the crossbow bolt and electric shock had done to his leg. "I was moving rather close to my top speed."

"Sasuke-Sensei's training," Kiyoshi responded. "He cast a potent genjutsu on the three of us at times that slowed our senses and made it seem that the world was moving around us at a faster rate than normal. That means that even though I was not nearly as fast as you, I was still used to perceiving such fast movements by now. He also introduced us to a Lee a few times, and that was rather intense training right there."

"Not bad."

"Yukata and Moegi, please come down to the arena!" Gaara called, and they complied as Haku and Kiyoshi left. "Begin!"

Moegi immediately threw several kunai at Yukata, who dodged them easily, and asked, "Is that all you got?" Moegi responded by throwing several more kunai, only to be dodged some more, before she tossed one with a tag attached to it at the ground where Yukata was moving to. "Oops!"Yukata shouted as the tag went off, but Yukata was just fast enough to avoid it. She formed a wind blade over two of her fingers and charged Moegi, who hastily retreated, covering her retreat with two more tagged kunai. This turned out to be a mistake as Yukata thrust the palm of her other hand out to release a gust of wind before the kunai got too far from their owner, causing the explosives to rebound to Moegi.

"Crap," the girl said before they went off, throwing her back.

"Trying to keep me at a distance won't work!" Yukata shouted as she rushed her foe at a pretty good speed while she was getting up. "Take this!" Yukata thrust her hand with the refined wind bladeat Moegi, who managed to move her head out of the way and thrust her fist forward at Yukata. Yukata smirked as she reacted to easily catch the fist. That was when Sakura and Moegi gave smirks of their own.

The moment Moegi's fist made contact with Yukata's hand, the black haired kunoichi was blasted back by the sheer force of the blow, and she slammed into one of Akari's trees hard enough to choke up blood. "What the?"Yukata demanded as she tried to get back up, only to freeze when she spotted another exploding kunai thrown at the ground in front of her, and Moegi form a ram seal.

"Move and I'll detonate that," she warned.

"You really taught her how to hit like you?" a sweat dropping Sasuke said to Sakura, and she laughed at his expression.

"Not quite like me actually. _I _would have actually put her through that tree with my hit," she chortled and Sasuke made yet another mental note to avoid pissing her off at all costs.

"Gah, I yield," Yukata reluctantly said. "How did you hit so hard?"

"My teacher is a good one. While I specialize a bit more in medical ninjutsu, I can also throw a punch thanks to Sakura-Sensei's lessons. Of course, I still had to get you with my fist, that's why I acted like I did not want you to get close to me, because that would make fighting me up close seem attractive to you, and it lured you in while making you think I would be helpless."

"Matsuri and Kin Tsuchi are the next two opponents!" Gaara shouted to the crowd as Moegi and Yukata left.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

Zenko snuck through the streets of Suna, noting how empty they were due to the exams as he went. He turned a corner and sighed. "Man, how hard can it be to find a few suspicious characters Naruto-Sama sent me after?" the black fox sighed. "Guess I better use my extra sensory ability…" He closed his eyes and focused. "Byakugan!" His Rinnegan eyes went slightly paler, and veins became visible under his black fur. When Naruto had used his Rinnegan to create the fox, Hinata had volunteered a few of her hairs to give the one sentient Rinnegan summon of Naruto's her dojutsu to make him a better scout/sensory type. With his small size, his keen hearing and sense of smell, and eyesight made extra sharp, he was very well suited for his job. He also had several other tricks given to him by Naruto, though those he would have to use later.

He spotted something that made his eyes widen. Near the edge of the village, there was a figure with enormous chakra coils, about the same size as Naruto's give or take a little. There were four others with him, and Zenko could tell that they were Akatsuki by the cloaks he could see. _"Naruto-Sama…" _he thought frantically.

…

Naruto was watching as Matsuri and Kin faced each other in the arena, noting that Gaara was silently wishing Matsuri luck, when he heard the incessant buzzing, which turned into a clear voice in his head when he closed his eyes to hide his Rinnegan as he activated it. _"Naruto-Sama, we have a situation,"_

_"Yeah, I can see that," _Naruto mentally replied as he cursed the fact that his hunch was right._"Go in and get closer so you can hear what they are saying. I want to know exactly what they are planning. And put one of my tags where you are right now, it seems like a private enough spot to do what I need to."_

_"Hai, Naruto-Sama!" _Zenko thought as he placed his paw on the ground and a Hiraishin tag appeared beneath it. Meanwhile, Naruto secretly formed a cross seal, keeping his hands hidden from his surrounding fellow spectators, and only letting Hinata notice. His newly created Shadow Clone immediately flashed to Zenko's position, even taking the smoke with it before it was noticed. Zenko quickly made his way to where he spotted their quarry, and both the original Naruto and the clone narrowed their eyes.

_"That looks like Drakmus who is here, and Caius as well. I'd better let Felix know. There's also Deidara, Sasori, and Obito… Caius seems to be concentrating, he must be watching something somewhere else with an Edo Tensei… They must be plotting to attack Suna at some point during the exams, question is, when, and what's their plan?" _His clone made the cross seal to make a bunch of clones to spread his mark around. _"Better have seals all over the village to be safe. Zenko, make sure you catch every word between them."_

**(A/N: OST Shiren Plays)**

"Begin!" Gaara shouted, and Naruto was snapped back to the fight at hand on time to see Kin throw some lightning laced senbon with bells and ninja wire attached. Matsuri avoided them and whipped out her johyo to lash at the former Sound kunoichi, who dodged the tool. Matsuri then used the distraction to cut the ninja wires with a wind blade formed with her fingers in a similar manner to Yukata, so Kin could not ring her bells.

Kin widened her eyes before she demanded, "How did you know to do that?"

"Well, it was fairly obvious that you need to ring the bells for something, else why would you have ninja wire to do so?" Matsuri asked as she lashed with her johyo again, and managed to wrap the dart end around one of Kin's arms before said kunoichi smirked.

"Not bad, but you will have to do better," she said as she grabbed the rope and conducted her lightning chakra through it. Matsuri cried out as a deadly shock racked her body, and she collapsed. "Little tip: Don't have anything connecting you to an experienced lightning style user," Kin said as she ran at Matsuri with more senbon in hand and threw them halfway. Matsuri had no chance to doge them as she was still stunned by the shock of Kin's earlier stunt, and took all four thrown senbon in her arms.

"You're mine!" Kin shouted as she pulled out a kunai to end the match, sure Gaara would stop it before she had to do anything drastic. Just as the kunai touched Matsuri however, the Sand kunoichi suddenly shimmered and faded. "What the-?"

"Wind Style: Weasel Net Jutsu!" Matsuri's voice behind Kin shouted, causing the girl to whip around in time to be hit by a small blast of wind launched by a hand fan Matsuri held. Kin was thrown back, having been cut a little, but nothing too serious.

Temari smirked in the stands and said to Shikamaru, "It's definitely not as powerful or as far reaching as my jutsu, but it is faster and good at keeping foes at bay to restrain with the johyo. Matsuri's specialty is capturing foes without having to seriously injure them."

"What kind of genjutsu did she just use though?" Shikamaru asked.

"It's not a genjutsu. It is a wind style jutsu, called Desert Mirage."

"Let me guess. She uses her wind style chakra to affect the hot and cool air around the area, creating images, right? I bet she knew Kin was going to try to shock her, so timed dropping the johyo to avoid that and cast the jutsu at the same moment to fool Kin into attacking her so she could circle behind her. And since the Desert Mirage is not an actual illusion, it is easier to trick genjutsu specialists with it right?"

"Not much gets by you does it?"

"Not bad at all," Kin said as she got to her feet and leapt back from another small wind burst from Matsuri. "But now it is time for some real fun." She took a scroll out and said, "Time for you to see my secret weapon." She then unsealed a kusarigama, with the handle the blade was attached to perforated with small holes.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: A bit short I know, sorry, been busy… Time to respond to a few reviews!**

**cook563: **

**interesting chapter, and i love Naruto's reaction. can't wait to see how everyone will react to Naruto's Dojutsu, keep up the great work i'm looking forward to more bada$$ary later on.**

**rasEnshur1Ken: I'm looking forward to writing the reactions to dojutsu myself.**

**DanteShindo: **

**Happy Birthday to you!**

**rasEnshur1Ken: Thanks!**

**SamHetfield:**

**Awesome fight, and great choice for soundtrack, it helped a lot with the reading... maybe I should do that as well...**

**rasEnshur1Ken: Go ahead, I won't claim ownership of the idea or anything, in fact, I would like to see it in a few more fanfics.**

**RegenerateLPs: **

**Didn't get to review last chapter, but this chapter was amazing! In the beginning, I honestly thougt Genymaru would win. I never expected Akari to win that! Please tell me that her and Naruto are going to have it out in the AOS room in a future chapter! Amazing chapter, 10/10!**

**rasEnshur1Ken: Thanks for the compliment, and having Naruto teach her a few things in the AOS room is an interesting idea, I will consider it…**

**Death-Prince-3:**

**Two perfect chapters of perfected perfection so perfect Cell himself will be jealous of it. Pity Kono lost the Akari but I ship KonoHana now so it aint a big deal. I pity everyone's favourite butt mon...I mean puppeteer! ! Having the prankers after him. I do hope that Kono and Akari's bond won't change in light of the up commening recent event however.  
Also, Naruto... will he be like Nagato and when using Paths via his friends, Loose that paths power for himself?**

**rasEnshur1Ken: To answer your question, I actually won't answer it. The explanation is kind of long and I do not want to write it twice, so you will have to wait until Nagato explains it to Naruto. Sorry!**

**Titokhan:**

***turns off motormouth mode* That's what I get for reading this while working on two hearts and breaking the curse at the same time.  
Great fight, another improvisational genius in the family. Wonder if Haku will give Kiyoshi a few of the chances he gave Ittetsu just to be fair?  
more great fights FTW.  
*goes back to work on his own stories***

**rasEnshur1Ken: Sorry, it was meant as a joke when I said write my eyes out, I actually enjoy a good deal of feedback. As for your question, Haku didn't have to. Kyoshi was better trained to handle fast opponents than Ittetsu.**

**Phantom imPALEr: **

**Hey I may not have reviewed it. But I made the connection. Felix Felixus, liquid luck. From harry potter...I think. Anyway. Sasuke says nothing can surprise him when it comes to Naruto. I beg to differ. Rinnegan will send him through a loop. Lol. Hurry and update.**

**rasEnshur1Ken: Yeah, that's the name in Harry Potter. Can't wait to write about Sasuke's raction to the Rinnegan after the battle with the Akatsuki when he asks Naruto how he did a bunch of things… maybe I should have a poll on reactions he could have.**

**roukie95 :**

**hey uhm... Author-san, would naruto be stuck up somewhere after sharing the rinnengan with six others like nagato was?..and why does he need to share it after all he is a direct descendant of rickudo sennin and I don't think rickudo sennin ever did that...not to mention that after r  
bringing back nagato in the Canon through edo tensei he was like OMG so powerful with him beign all the paths can u imagine it took all the powers of killer b,naruto and itachi to put down...to me seperating the part weakened him not ti talk of makin them easy targets...incredible story by the way...to my favorite Author**

**rasEnshur1Ken: Thanks for saying I am your favorite author, it means a lot! As I said before, I don't want to answer how the Six Paths ability with Naruto will work yet, but I can tell you that Naruto will want to use that ability to help his friends defend themselves better and because he doesn't want to leave them too far behind with his own strength. **

**gameipedia :**

**I've noticed not many people review compared to followers and I'm pretty sure that's because people don't really have much say personally If all I'm going to say in review is "good chapter" and like nothing else then I won't because it seems a bit rude to the author being so swift.**

**But, yea good chapter as always and can't wait for akatsuki fight, and if you want try out my small story I have.[shameless self-plugging huzzah!]**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You're probably right that people don't want to insult me by not saying much, so this is a message to everyone who reads and has little to say. I don't mind short reviews. As long as I don't get flamed, I am happy to accept whatever feedback you have, even if all you want to say is good job. That simple gesture is appreciated and makes the hours put into this story worth it. As for the story you mentioned, I may check it out, just keep reviewing please.**

**Next chapter will finish Kin vs Matsuri, and have the much anticipated scrap between the two competitors for Akari's affections. Rest assured, this will be a very dirty fight, and Naruto will also find out about the Akatsuki's movements in three nations. **

**Please Review!**


	59. Chapter 58: The Plans

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Man, I never had a chance in getting this posted yesterday, I actually had a ten hour shift at work! (Weeps anime tears) But I am happy right now, because I have hit 400 favorites! Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 58: The Plans**

**(A/N: OST Shiren Plays)**

_"That can't be good…" _Matsuri thought. _"She seems to model her weapon choice in a similar manner to her teammates. She uses senbon like Haku, and a chained weapon like Genyumaru…" _ Matsuri then picked up her johyo and thought for a second. _"Using this may not be a good idea if she manages to catch me off guard and get another shock in on me. So I had better stick to the fan for now…" _she thought as she put the johyo away.

Kin immediately charged, whirling the kusarigama as she went, before swinging it off the ten foot chain to attack Matsuri, the holes in the handle releasing a whistling noise. Matsuri used her fan to deflect the weapon and it seemed to work at first, though the whistling noise got louder as her wind style jutsu ran through it. Then her vision and balance suddenly seemed shot, and she felt nauseous as a searing pain went through her ears. She fell to her knees and vomited her lunch onto the sand of the arena.

Kin pulled her tool back and caught the handle and rushed Matsuri again while she was down. _"Gald I took a leaf out of Dosu's book with this tool," _Kin mused as she leapt above Matsuri and brought the blade down to injure her opponent enough to end the bout. Matsuri was just able to recover her wits enough to roll on her back and swing her fan again, knocking Kin back out of the air.

Kin cursed as she flipped back to an upright position to land on her feet before she skidded back and threw yet another handful of senbon of lightning laced chakra. Matsuri rolled again, not able to get to her feet, and deflected two senbon she had not been able to get out of the way of. Matsuri panted as she wiped her face clean of the cold sweat. She grit her teeth and got to her feet, swaying like she was a little drunk as she did so. She felt her ears to note they were bleeding.

_"Sound based attacks… at least I can still stand, but it will be a while before my motor functions return completely…" _Matsuri thought as Kin made to attack again. Matsuri forced herself to jump back form the ringing weapon, though she landed far from gracefully. She dropped her fan and clapped her hands over her ears before Kin could use her chakra to guide the sound into them.

"Already figuring out how to counter my abilities eh?" Kin said with a smirk. "But a lot of damage has already been done. You have already gotten to the point where victory is close to impossible for you."

"Don't get too cocky Kin," Genyumaru, who had just gotten out of the infirmary to watch the fight, silently urged.

**(A/N: End OST)**

_ "She's right…"_ Matsuri thought a little frantically._ "I can barely fight in my condition… I have to heal the damage to my ears, at least a little, but I need to keep her at bay while I do so, but my best weapon for that can easily be used against me, and if I repel her weapon with the fan, she will take advantage of the wind moving through it for more devastating sound waves. But maybe…"_ A few ideas occurred to Matsuri as she took out her johyo, causing Kin to raise her eyebrows.

**(A/N: OST Naruto's Main Theme Plays)**

"That is a bad idea, unless you plan to trick me like you did last time, and if that's the case, it won't work a second time," Kin said as Matsuri lashed out with the tool, and used her other hand to perform a basic medical ninjutsu on one of her ears. Kin caught the johyo and shouted, "Lightning Style: Livewire Jutsu!" To her shock, no pun intended, the lightning chakra rebounded on her and gave her a small jolt and caused her to yelp and drop the tool. "What the?" she demanded before she dodged the johyo again, this time taking a closer look. "Oh, I see, you channeled your wind chakra into the tool to counter my lightning chakra. Very nice, using your elemental advantage to good effect. But," she continued as Matsuri had done what she could for one ear and switched hands to wield her weapon and heal the other ear. "I can still strike you from a distance myself, and my attacks don't need direct hits!"

With that, Kin swung her chained sickle again, and Matsuri leapt back with slightly better balance as the blade cut her cheek. _"Can't cover your ears while one hand is holding a weapon, now can you?" _Kin thought smugly as she guided her sound waves to Matsuri's ears. But to her surprise, the waves encountered some kind of barrier that kept them from going any further. _"How did she- never mind, the blade is still poisoned as an extra contingency, just like my senbon, so she should still have problems, even if my sound waves no longer work on her."_

Sure enough, Matsuri was suddenly seeing the world spin slightly, and several images of Kin. _"Not good," _Matsuri thought as she tried todistinguish reality from illusion. She formed a Tiger Seal and said, "Release!" Nothing happened.

"Sorry, that's not a genjutsu. It's a result of a potent and fast acting hallucinogenic poison on the blade of my weapon, so normal dispelling tactics won't work on it. Time to end this."

Matsuri glared up before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I am the last genin of the Sand village still competing in the finals. I can't have my team be the only one to not have won a single match on our own home field!" she declared as she tried to view Kin and the phantoms of her. Kin rushed Matsuri as the girl formed her signs, preparing to use the last of her chakra. "Wind Style: Banshee Shriek!" she shouted the last words out and a blast of wind that came close to Temari's normal attacks blasted from her mouth and struck Kin at near point blank range.

_"What the hell?"_ Kin thought as she was thrown back and impacted one of Akari's trees with enough force to break several bones. She fell unconscious to the ground and Gaara checked on her.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"The winner is Matsuri!" Gaara declared and the crowd cheered.

"Why didn't she use that Banshee Shriek before?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because it is a one-shot jutsu that can damage the throat if too much force is put into it," Temari said. "But at that point, Matsuri needed a jutsu that could finish things in a hurry, and if she was hallucinating, she also probably needed a mass effect area as well."

Gaara checked on Matsuri, who was being assisted by a few medics as Kin was taken out of the area on a stretcher. "You alright?" he asked and she gave a small smile.

"I've been better, but I will live," Matsuri replied.

"How did you stop the sound based jutsu from affecting you after the first time?"

"It's not something I have tried before, but I am glad it worked this time. I used my ability to shift minor air currents, the same concept that I use to cast Desert Mirage, to take all the air out of the area around the opening of my ear, creating a vacuum. And since sound waves can't travel through a vacuum, I remained unaffected."

"Not bad," Gaara said before Matsuri had to be led away. Gaara then cleared his throat and shouted, "Daisuke Uchiha and Konohamari Sarutobi are our next fighters!"

….

Zenko and the Naruto clone had heard enough. Thanks to Obito still acting like the idiotic Tobi, he had gotten a lecture from Deidara about why they still had to wait before they could attack the Sand village. Apparently, they were waiting for Akari to lose so she would be an easier target to capture, or until the exams ended with her winning, whichever one occurred. Gaara was also their target. And Zenko had overheard enough to know that there was also going to be an attack on Iwa and Kumo at about this point as well. Naruto's clone immediately formed two other clones, who Hiraishinned to different locations.

During the mission to Sound two years ago, Naruto had made sure to tag some of the interiors of the bases in case he ever needed a place to hunker down. And though the experiments and most of the results of Orochimaru's work had been destroyed, the bases themselves had been left mostly intact. One clone had gone to the base that held the closest tag to Iwa, while the other one had gone to the base with the closest to Kumo. Both then proceeded to summon a falcon with Rinnegan eyes to their locations. Naruto had made several of these mainly for messenger purposes, but this was another practical use. Both clones rummage around based on their memories, and found a few Hiraishin kunai that the original had hidden earlier in the bases. They each handed a kunai to their falcons, and the birds flew off to their respective destinations as the clones poofed out of existence.

The clone who had made those two then began laying the groundwork for the counter attack in Suna. First thing he needed to do now was inform some people and buy a little time.

…...

The original Naruto looked at Hinata and started whispering things in her ear based on a code they had made a few months ago. Hinata nodded as she processed the intel Naruto had just told her.

Daisuke and Konohamaru faced each other in the arena, and Gaara called for the match to start. "Hey, before we fight, I have a question for you," the Sarutobi said to Daisuke as Daisuke unsheathed his katanas.

"What's that?" Daisuke replied, though he just had a feeling tha the was not going to like what Konohamaru was going to ask.

"What's between you and Akari?"

Daisuke should have bet on his earlier feeling, while Akari just sweat dropped as she heard that, and prayed to Kami, "Please don't let those two have a fight over me or something along those lines."

"She's my teammate and a precious comrade," Daisuke said.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Konohamaru growled.

"Enough. This is an exam for determining whether we are ready for the rank of chunin," Dasiuke said as he pointed one of his swords at Konohamaru. "If you want to try to bring any personal conflicts into the exams, please leave me out of it."

Konohamaru seethed mentally. Daisuke had just made him look like an immature jerk with that statement! "Fine, we'll have this conversation later, and I'll kick your ass now."

**(A/N: OST Hidden Secrets Plays)**

Naruto meanwhile growled under his breath as he watched Konohamaru take out his shuriken. He now had two boys crushing after his sister, and he did not like the idea at all. Kushina meanwhile was having similar thoughts. Both boys shuddered for a second as they felt bloodlust and Daisuke mentally cursed Konohamaru for his big mouth getting them into this, before he was forced to deflect the projectiles Konohamaru threw at him.

"Great, I just know that Mom and Big Brother won't leave me alone for the next few years," Akari groaned.

Daisuke jumped back to get some distance between him and his foe before he adjusted his grip on his weapons so he could run through some signs. "Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" he shouted and launched the inferno at Konohamaru.

"Is that the only thing your clan is capable of?" Konohamaru asked, as he leapt away from the fireball. Daisuke then charged the Sarutobi, his Sharingan active as he did so. Konohamaru took out a kunai and backed up as he deflected blow after blow, smirking as he did so, and he finally kicked out at exactly where he anticipated Daisuke's leg would be when his foot got there. Daisuke changed the trajectory of his legwork to avoid the attack, and continued his assault, only for Konohamaru to _spit _in his face, not just a small glob of saliva, but a liquid he had kept in his mouth ever since Daisuke's view of him had been obscured by his fireball. This liquid was a very spicy solution that was _very_ painful to get in the eyes, and Daisuke had just found that out the hard way.

As the young Uchiha fell back, clawing his face as he did so, Konohamaru stabbed him in the gut with kunai. Only for Daisuke to go poof, and another Daisuke came in behind his now gone clone, having made said clone with the same means of hiding it as Konohamaru, and using his Sharingan to replicate his clone's motions perfectly from behind to keep hidden from his foe.

Konohamaru's eyes widened as Daisuke thrust his blades forward, before he smirked, turned his body to the side, so both thrusts went past him, and he moved in to Daisuke, grabbing his shoulders, and used his momentum to throw him at a tree. Unfortunately, Daisuke was lithe enough to regain his balance in midair and landed with his feet sticking to the tree. "Not bad, but you will have to do better," the Uchiha said.

Konohamaru nodded, bit his thumb and cast his signs, saying "Summoning Jutsu!"

**A/N: To my reviewers:**

**SkyRune: **

**Hey there, a few quick questions and possible future arcs/chapters. if Naruto and company go after the Sanbi, will there possibly be a new Jinchuuriki? will there also be a battle with Kushina in Uzugakure of the Land of Whirlpools? just some ideas. keep it up.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I actually have thought about creating a jinchuriki for the Sanbi myself if they beat the akatsuki to it. As for future arcs, there will be several, and they will all be part of my take on the Fourth Shinobi War. Unlike Kishimoto, who only wrote about a big battle lasting about two days before the Juubi appeared, I intend to actually have a war go on for months at least. And yes, I did plan on having something done with Kushina's old homeland.**

**cook563: **

**curious to read what the damned akatsuki are planning but with the addition of your baddies it can't be anything fun. keep up the great work and i'm looking forward to the next.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**It won't be anything fun at all.**

**Titokhan:**

**the Haku/Kiyoshi fight was better than expected. We know at least 2 of Sasuke's charges are likely to get to chuunin now.**

Every fight has been written very well. Can't help but think that this could be one of those exams where every finals participant gets promoted. they've all proven to be smart, quick thnking on their feet, and strong (some much more than other of course)

what is it with Suna and silly strong wind type kunochi? Matsuri's abilities are very impressive. Not quite Temari yet, but shes getting there

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**It's unlikely I will promote everyone in these exams, a couple of people have been beaten too fast to be really considered. Still, what do you think the odds of all of both Zabuza's and Sasuke's charges getting the rank are?**

**Arniecar145: **

**A small fox with Byakugan and Rinnegan...jeez Naruto what else with you come up with? Haha. Nice chapter dude. Can't wait for shit to go down. Oh and an early happy birthday to you.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, I wanted Naruto's only sentient Rinnegan summon to be one of his most useful, despite not being a combat type. And thanks for the birthday thought.**

**Death-Prince-3: **

**Woot! This is like a late Eid gift! THANKS FOR THE GREAT CHAPTER YET AGAIN!**

And if Nagato will explain...DOES THAT MEAN YOUR GONNA SAVE HIM :D?! If so...YES! Cant wait!

The Fight will be a interesting one for sure I must say...Cant wait yet again!

ALL HAIL THE GREAT rasEnshur1Ken, WHO HAS BLESSED US WITH SUCH A GREAT STORY!

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You may now kiss my feet! :P just kidding, and yes, Nagato will be saved, and so will Konan. Of course, Obito will still need to get his hands on the Rinnegan, but I have a plan for that.**

**akatsukicolin: **

**Amazing chapter- just like all of your previous ones! The future fight between Drakmus and Naruto will be so much more interesting now that he can match him due to the Rinnegan. Please update soon!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Drakmus and Naruto have unfortunately had their last fight. Felix will be the one who faces Drakmus in the coming conflict. I hope you look forward to that!**

**Vallavarayan:**

**He should inform people and start making plans min who takes on whom..kakashi or sasuke would be best against deodar a.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Kakashi is not even there. And I have plans for both Sasuke and Deidara. But yes, Naruto will inform people about the upcoming shit storm. **

**thecreatorofpolides: **

**cool chapter i cant wai to read the next one but do you think it woulf be possible to have minato or jiraiya awaken a hidden bloodline since not much is known about their families by blood since both where as far as we know orphans**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You're right that we do not know about their families, but the answer as to a bloodline is no, and please do not pester me to change my mind, because I am not going to. Sorry if you really wanted that, but it's not going to happen. **

**So next chapter will decide who the semifinalists will be and Naruto will start to make his counter plans against the Akatsuki. Daisuke and Konohamaru will finish their little scrap, and Akari and Haku's fight should also start next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it! **

**Please Review! **


	60. Chapter 59: The Semifinalists

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: More of the exams, and Naruto begins preparing for Suna's battle.**

**Chapter 59: The Semifinalists**

**(A/N: OST Ultimate Secrets Plays)**

With a burst of smoke, Michiko came to the battlefield. The ape gave Konohamaru a glance and said, "I hope you are not wasting my time with a foe you could beat without my help boy."

"Sorry if it's an inconvenience Michiko, but this guy is tough enough to warrant your aid. I probably could win without your help, but it would not be a sure thing."

"Oh that's right," Daisuke said. "Akari told me she shared the monkey summoning contract with you. It's not going to be easy fighting you and your friend at the same time. Better even the odds just a bit." Daisuke then made about five Shadow Clones.

"I can do that too!" Konohamaru shouted as he made ten to match Daisuke. Daisuke's eyes narrowed and he made twenty, though he was panting afterwards. Konohamaru paled at the prospect of outdoing that without Akari level reserves, but his hands went into the cross seal before Michiko put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"You dolt, can't you tell that he's just acting tired and that those are just regular clones? He's baiting you and trying to make you exhaust yourself," the ape lectured.

"Darn, you saw through my ruse," Daisuke cursed as his now revealed to be normal clones faded. "Oh well, at least it worked partly."

"Hah, ten clones should be able to handle you easily!" Konohamaru claimed before he and his clones ran through signs and shouted, "Fire Style: Blazing Blanket Jutsu!"

A wide area effect jutsu spawned from the mouths of each clone. Though the jutsu was normally rather weak because of the lack of concentration of the flames, when all eleven combined into one jutsu, it would turn out devastating. Daisuke cursed again as he leapt over the encompassing flames, and was met by Michiko, who threw a punch at Daisuke, obviously intending to send him back into the path of the flames.

Daisuke had been expecting this however, and had a few signs already cast. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he shouted and Michiko was forced to do a spinning maneuver in midair to avoid the fireball, and Daisuke managed to cut the monkey's arm a little as he passed him. Daisuke landed on the branch of one of the trees and saw five of his opponent's clones running at him at full speed, each holding a kunai in each hand. Daisuke cast another fireball jutsu at the group of clones, and took them all out in that one shot, only for two more to get behind him and stick exploding tags on him.

They went off, taking out the clones too, but when the smoke cleared, the original Konohamaru only saw the splintered remains of a log. He cursed as he and his three remaining clones saw Daisuke throw a kunai with a tag attached, and cast a few signs. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted and Konohamaru paled as he and his clones scattered. However, Daisuke just chuckled. He only knew the signs to the jutsu, not how to actually do it, so what happened was that he had just made Konohamaru look like an idiot with his bluff and made it easier to pick him and his clones off.

He threw kunai at each Konohamaru after his tagged kunai exploded, and Konohamaru's three clones all took hits and vanished, though the original was able to catch his and without fully stopping the trajectory of the kunai, spun and re launched it at the Uchiha, who still easily avoided it thanks to his Sharingan. However, he was still having problems with Michiko, who pursued him mercilessly, and was attacking with highly advanced taijutsu. If it weren't for the Sharingan, Daisuke would have had no chance at all keeping up with his persistent foe's attacks.

He looked Michiko in the eye and cast a brief genjutsu that temporarily caused the ape to freeze in place and stop his attack, giving Daisuke the chance to kick him in the gut and get enough distance to cast a sign to make three Shadow Clones. "Careful Michiko!" Konoharu shouted as he leapt at the clones, removing his scarf as he did so. "He'll hide behind his clones and mimic their movements with his Sharingan to attack the moment you dispel one!"

"Got it!" Michiko replied as he returned to action, removing a pair of nunchaku from a pouch and going toe to toe with two clones at once. Konohamaru meanwhile swung his scarf at Daisuke and the other clone.

"Ninja Art: Steel Whip!" Konohamru shouted and the scarf turned into flexible but hard metal and surprised Daisuke. The whip like scarf took out one of Daisuke's clones and tied Daisuke up as he failed to deflect it with his two blades, but he disappeared in smoke too, the original coming charging behind his failed clone. "Not getting me with that trick!" Konohamaru shouthed as he ducked the katanas, grabbed Daisuke's arms, and pulled him forward as hard as he could, kicking Daisuke hard in the gut as the Uchiha's momentum made the kick impact his gut with more force. "I can see Michiko's point with using an opponent's momentum against them," Konohamaru chuckled before yet another poof was heard and a log covered in exploding tags was used in a Substitution Jutsu Daisuke had cast. "Shit-."

Konohamaru instantly tried to back off, and was saved by Michiko, who had finished his two opponents and come in on time to kick the tagged log a few feet away from them before it went off. Still, both the ape and the Sarutobi were thrown backwards hard, Michiko taking the worst of it, having been closer to the log himself.

"You had better go Michiko," Konohamaru said. "You would have fared far better in this fight if you weren't covering my ass as well."

Michiko simply gave an irritated grunt as he disappeared. Daisuke meanwhile panted slightly to show his mild chakra exhaustion as he stepped out of the forest. He still brought his katanas to bear as Konohamaru made a Shadow Clone and held his hand out to it, allowing the clone to weave its hands over Konohamaru's hand. Daisuke's eyes widened as a small sphere of chakra formed. "That's-," he said as Naruto gave a small groan in the stands.

"I didn't teach him that this time around," he muttered. "Great, even without my help it's getting more widespread. Gotta make sure no one else learns it before it gets more popular than a kunai… we all do need our specialties after all… besides, last thing I want is to give Obito the opportunity to copy it. If HE used it, I would really get pissed. "

Akari felt somewhat uncomfortable as she felt long distance glares from Kushina and Naruto. And she was pissed herself. "So help me Konohamaru, if you seriously hurt Daisuke with something I trusted you with, I will kill you one inch at a time…" she muttered, an aura similar to a dangerously close to enraged Kushina manifesting and making the Sarutobi shudder unconsciously.

_"My survival instincts are going haywire," _Konohmaru thought fearfully. _"But I have to win this, so I gotta proceed with my attack. It's a good thing I didn't plan on a frontal attack…"_

_"It's smaller than Akari's but I have no doubt that if it hits me, I won't get back up any time soon," _Daisuke also thought with a bit of fear._"So I better avoid it at all costs."_

Once the Rasengan had formed, Konohamaru's clone rushed at Daisuke, the original following behind with the jutsu, and the clone weaved signs. "Fire Style: Blazing blanket Jutsu!"

"That again?" Daisuke asked as he countered with a fireball. _"No doubt he is trying to obscure my vision to surprise me with the Rasengan, obscuring where he will attack from next. An aerialattack is a little obvious, so his attack will likely come from… below!" _ The last one he had thought at the last second when Konohamaru burst out of the ground, hand extended. Daisuke dropped one of his katanas and grabbed the arm, only to widen his eyes in shock when he saw no Rasengan. "Konohamaru" dispelled, and a second one ran through the fading flames of the previous jutsu.

Daisuke stabbed his other katana forward to catch Konohamaru off guard, but saw that this Konohamaru also lacked a Rasengan, instead holding a vial of what looked like chili pepper juice, which is what he spat in Daisuke's eyes earlier. Daisuke cursed as he realized that Konohamaru's clone must have made another one under the cover of the flames. The clone was stabbed, but was able to fling the juice into Daisuke's eyes again, causing the Uchiha kid to claw at his face and the real Konohamaru this time jumped above Daisuke and slammed his Rasengan into the thick branch above Daisuke's head.

_"I don't care how fancy the Sharingan is, once it's been blinded, it is as useless as a regular eye in the same situation is!" _Konohamaru thought triumphantly as the branch fell. Daisuke looked up, the whites of his eyes almost as red as his Sharingan from the serious irritation, and blurrily saw the branch come down on him.

"Yes, I got him!" Konhoamaru said as he sat down panting, before he felt a sudden pain in his back, then his chest and the point of Daisuke's blade emerged from the front of his shirt.

"Don't worry, I missed your vitals, but if I have to, I can easily change that," Daisuke said from behind Konohamaru as he sank to one knee, though he kept a firm grip on his weapon.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"You used a Substitution again, didn't you?" Konohamaru asked with a small amount of blood in his mouth.

"It took the last of my chakra, but yes. I always could weave signs faster than most eyes could follow, it's one of the skills I practiced most growing up."

"Out of chakra eh?" Konohamaru asked as he shifted just slightly and Daisuke gripped his katana tighter.

"Don't try anything," Daisuke warned.

"No way I'm going to give-," Konohamru started, before a wave of sand came out of seemingly nowhere, and Daisuke's blade was pulled from the Sarutobi's chest by it, and Konohamaru found himself restrained.

"That's enough. Anymore and your life would be in danger," Gaara said, not having moved from his position. "Daisuke Uchiha is the winner."

Konohamru looked like he was going to argue, but when he saw the look in Gaara's face, a sort of subtle threat, he thought better of it. Gaara released Konohamru and the Sarutobi sighed. "Listen," Daisuke said to Konohamaru as they both headed back up the steps, Konohamaru not needing immediate treatment because Daisuke had done a very good job of not making the last injury serious. "It's clear that we both have some kind of feelings for Akari. I don't know if mine is a simple crush, a brotherly and sisterly bond, or actual love or not, but it's not our feelings we need to consider most if a relationship does end up occurring, but hers. And you are a great guy. I don't want something like this to come between any friendships we may have."

Konohamaru looked a little thoughtful at this before he took a turn that would lead him to the infirmary, muttering something about getting his injuries checked. Daisuke sighed, hoping Konohamaru would figure out what he was talking about. He dimly noted the shout of Gaara declaring that Matsuri and Moegi were to come to the arena for the next fight.

…

"Uuugh, what hit me?" Kin groaned as she groggily stirred in the infirmary, Haku sitting next to her, reading a book.

"A wind style jutsu fired by a kunoichi on the ropes, changing the battle in a heartbeat," Haku laughed.

"Great. I better still make chunin, I don't want to have to take the exams again a third time. I'm going back to sleep." With that, she laid back down and within a minute, was asleep again. Haku chuckled as he set his book down.

"Psst, Haku, we need to talk," Naruto's voice said, giving Haku a start. He looked around until he saw a small black fox on the infirmary floor.

"Naruto-san? What are you doing here, and why are you using a transformation technique? And what's with those eyes?"

"Long story, but I am not using a transformation, I am speaking through a link I have with Zenko here. I'm just giving him mental commands on what to say, and he's throwing his voice to sound like me. But I need you to listen for a sec. The Akatsuki are here." Haku gasped, and Zenko continued, "I have already sent warnings with a jutsu called the Wind Whisper to Itachi-Sensei, the Kazekage, Sasuke-teme, our friends from the Elder Dimension, Gaara, and a few others. Here's what I need you to do."

"How do I know that you are Naruto?" Haku asked suspiciously.

"Itachi fell for the gag that you were a boy though you look feminine, and I could have told him beforehand, but decided that was no fun."

Haku nodded, that was a rather obscure detail not many outside the three who were there at the time could ever have known, but he still wanted concrete proof. "Who was the first person to hit on me when we got back to Konoha?"

"Kiba."

"Who was upset about it?"

"Sasuke because he was dumb enough to bet against it, and me."

"There was another bet you beat him at right beforehand. What was it?"

Zenko was grinning as he was hearing about his master's past exploits and the more amusing ones at that. "That Akari and Konohamaru would be in the middle of a prank the moment we were in the village again."

"What was the prank?"

"I never found out for sure, but considering that Konohamaru was holding a microphone while he and Akari were running from an enraged Ebisu, and that he looked beaten up, and he was holding some kind of recording device while HE was running from a bunch of women, I would bet a lifetime supply of ramen that they slipped the device somewhere on his person after programming it to play anything Kono said into the microphone in Ebisu's voice, and said a bunch of things that anyone who values their internal organs and outer layers of skin should NEVER say to a lady into said microphone while the closet perv was near the women."

"Which of the lenses of Ebisu's glasses were broken?"

"Miraculously enough, neither of them."

"Okay, you convinced me."

"Good. Now, the Akatsuki are not going to attack until either the end of the exams, or until Akari loses, she is one of their targets, and they want her to be as easy of a target as possible. So I need you to drag the fight that is coming between you and her out as much as possible."

"Do you want me to throw the match to buy you time?"

"No, just keep it going until I finish a few preparations. I can't ask you to lose on purpose, and I don't want Akari to have an empty victory."

"Alright, I'll see what can be done. It was a bit of a risk you know, coming here like this. What if a nurse or something came in?"

"Actually, I had a deterrent set up."

"Huh?" Haku asked as there was a mild explosion outside the door, and a certain Sarutobi who was about to come in to the infirmary and the medic with him were both assailed by the smell of Isaac's socks.

….

"Will you hold still!" Moegi shouted as she threw yet another punch at Matsuri, who actually complied, only to be phased through, showing to be a mirage. Showing quick reflexes required of a medic nin, Moegi jumped back in time to avoid a gust of wind from the hidden Matsuri's fan, and she threw a few kunai in retaliation. They missed, and Matsuri's johyo lashed at Moegi's right side. Moegi smirked, deciding to grab the tool and yank Matsuri to her.

But Moegi's hand only met thin air as her hand phased through the mirage, and her left side was hit by the rope, and it wound itself through inertia around her. "Think this will hold me?" Moegi demanded as she strained against her bounds. Of course, the rope stronger than it looked, and despite Moegi's strength, she did not make much progress with her escape before Matsuri closed in and chopped her in the back of the neck. Moegi went down for the count.

"Matsuri wins!" Gaara declared after checking. There was acheer for the last remaining Suna participant and Gaara continued, "We will have a ten minute recess before we start the semi finals."

Akari got a little nervous. As an Uzumaki, she recovered her chakra faster than most others, but she still only had about half of her normal reserves, despite the rest she was taking and the energy food and drinks she had brought along to save her last soldier pill. It was rotten luck on her part, her first two opponents being the two strongest of Zabuza's team. If she had not outwitted Genyumaru, she would never have beaten him. And she knew Haku was on the same level, if not stronger, and he would be near the top of his game before the time for the fight came. At least she could still use the forest she had made during her fight with Genyumaru to her advantage, though it had been reduced to about half of the arena now.

She turned to Daisuke, who had a medic looking at his eyes. "How are your eyes felling?" she asked him.

He looked at her, the red in the eyes receding a bit, before he stated, "Seriously, I'd rather you kicked my sack again than take another mouthful of this stuff in my eyes. Shoulda picked a more painful spot to stab Kono."

Akari giggled a little, and asked, "You are sure you missed all vital areas right?"

"Yes, and if I came too close, a medic would be able to fix it easily."

"Good." With that, they both waited for the next round. After the ten minutes had passed, Gaara called for Akari and Haku, and they both stepped down into the arena.

….

It was a seemingly peaceful day in Kumogakure. The sun was shining, and not a single rain cloud was in sight. But soon, the quiet would be shattered. Eight figures stood near the outskirts, six of them having the Rinnegan eyes, one of them a woman with dark blue hair, and the last one being a fully cloaked figure.

"Kumogakure, the Village Hidden in the Clouds…" the leader of the group said. "A village that is always warmongering, not caring for the Pain caused to others, only focused on attaining power for itself, its own military. Garbage. Soon, they will all know the Pain they have so carelessly inflicted…"

**A/N: Answering my reviewers again. One reviewer had a second thought put in a review for a previous chapter, so don't be surprised to see two instances of that person's name. **

**naruto1246:**

**can you tell why naruto is able to shut off the rinnengan when nagato, tobi, and apparently not even the rikudou sennin could shut it off so what the hell why can naruto turn it off and nobody else please give me a detailed explanation**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**The reason Nagato or Tobi can't turn it off is because their eyes are both implanted, and not normally awakened. The eyes originally belonged to Madara if you read canon. And who ever said the Rikudou Sennin could not turn it off? All I have seen about him in canon is shadowy or hidden figures in flashbacks or descriptions of the Sennin's deeds. And while I admit those all had the Rinnegan in them, that was likely because he was simply well known for the Rinnegan. As for Madara never seen to have shut it off, that is likely because he was pretty much in battle mode all the time we have seen him, and chose to keep it active. Naruto awoke the power in his own body rather than taking or being given someone else's Rinnegan, and since I have seen no concrete proof that it CAN'T be shut off by one who awakened the power naturally, I am using my freedoms as a fanfiction writer to go where I please with it. I hope that explanation makes sense to you.**

**mellra: **

**I just had a thought, during the fight you should totally have Isaac vs Tobi, that'd be hilarious! The fight could include: sissy slapfighting, throwing of random objects from kunai to the kitchen sink, lemon juice to the eyes, ect. Hope to see more soon.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You do fortune telling or something? I totally had that idea in mind, though I did not think of the lemon juice part, lol, that would be cruel on Issac's three eyes.**

**Arniecar145:**

**Konohamaru, it's ok, you'll get Hanabi. I love how much foresight Naruto put into his plans. Flyin Raijin Tags near The Stone and Cloud? Guess it never hurts to over-plan. Very nice. Can't wait for the next chapter**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Hopefully the falcons will make it to the nations in time to make a difference eh? Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Titokhan:**

**Zabuza's team (even though 2 of them lost) seems near shoo-ins to make chuunin. Kin had Matsuri on the ropes before she brought out that last attack.**

Kiyoshi is likely the odd man out of Sasuke's team to make chuunin, because he was totally outclassed by someone who really should be at least a jounin.

Udon and Moegi are still on the bubble, though Moegi has another fight to work with.

well, Naruto isnt the #1 unpredictable ninja for nothing right? while straight up tactics are temari and shikamaru's forte, out of left field tactics are Naruto's

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Good assessments. All of you would have to seriously question my intelligence if any of Zabuza's team did not make it. What out of field tactic are you referring to?**

**ACSkywalker: **

**Hahahahaha Is Daisuke going to win? or is Konahamaru going to ?  
THis is an awesome chapter I can't wait to see what happens next**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

** As you just saw, Daisuke won, though by a slim margin. It will likely take at least two more chapters to finish the exams, so you will have to be a little patient for the invasion. **

**w1lliam:**

**Please try to avoid the powers (or item/summon) when plot demands trope. And if you do, try to include a flashback of it.**

Silly silly tobito, allowing your silly act to ruin the surprise. Speaking of which. How are the 'diplomatic' missions to kumo and kiri going? Are the memories of all the kage restored? Or do we have some complications?

Cya:) William ;)

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Could you be a bit more specific on what powers you want me to limit? And the Kages will have their memories restored soon, but it will be a little later.**

**SkyRune:**

**Thanks for taking my review. I might have to start calling you rasEnshur1Ken-sama. In my opinion, you will most likely similar battles happening in Suna. So I would like to see Sakura vs Sasori, but with a few alterations like Sakura being able to summon a slug of some kind since Kishimoto never explain how she got it or build on it. keep it up, U can do it.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Please do use that honorific, my ego could use another boost ;). I was also thinking about including Sakura against Sasori, and having Chiyo and Kankuro help her. And thank you for addressing an issue I had with canon, seriously, why didn't Kishi build that thing with the slug up? And you're welcome for taking your review, I try to encourage people to review my story, and it seems to be working so far. **

**Marrok2456:**

**Great chapter. Since naruto got a summoning fox, hydra, fox and dragon then what about a monkey or a snake with wood style or the sharingan? If you chose the wood style then I don't think with the snake since it doesn't have arms:) have you thought about how many chapters you will do because it's a great story:)**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**He will have plenty of other summons, so no need to worry about that. I was thinking I wanted at least 100 chapters in this story, but odds are, it will be a lot more. **

**cook563:**

**would've liked to know who would have won the fight this chapter but i know you did this for a reason. poor Daisuke he's gonna have to deal with the majority of the Uzumaki-Nazekage family after the fight is over. *shudders* that sounds like fun. keep up the great work i'm looking forward to your next chapter, until next time.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**My reason was that I was just pressed for time when I posted the last chapter and wanted to get it out then, plus the suspense was a good reason for it. And yes, Naruto will give Daisuke a hard time, and so will Minato and Kushina. **

**Redsox31:**

**Impressive win by Matsuri.i guess all female wind users in Suna are almost geniuses. Love Konohamaru trying to be the dirtiest player in the game by spitting in Daisuke's face.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, Gaara made sure to train her harder this time around. And Konohamru had a nice counter to the Sharingan, eh?**

**mellra:**

**Wow. I've read your story from start to the current chapter and I gotta say, I'm liking what I'm seeing! Normally I don't like the liberal use of OC's because I feel as if they take too much from the plot and the main characters, but you've written them in a way that nicely keeps the main story intact while having original ideas incorperated. There is a lot of potential for this Naruto story and I'm glad to see you update fairly frequently. I also have an idea for Naruto's summons: Zenko has both a stealth form and a combat form, his combat form being similar to Akamaru post-Shippuden, to give him decent fighting abilities if the situation calls for it.  
Also, will Naruto try and revive any of the deceased Jinchuriki this time so that a) they can live decent lives and b) it gives Kabuto six less pawns to use?  
Also, when is Killer Bee gonna show, ya fool? He's one of my favorite characters ya know? Anyway, great work and I look forward to reading more!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Welcome to my group of reviewers Mellra. Thank you for the compliment on my OC's. As for Zenko, he is like I said, not a combat type for the most part, though he does have a few tricks that can get him out of the rare bad situation his stealth skills fail to keep him out of. As for deceased jinchuriki, I did promise that at least two, the ones that were voted on would be saved, and I already did Fu, so I have yet to cover Yugito, the other jinchuriki I promised to spare in this story. I may spare a third one, but he will be my decision alone. As for B, he will appear when Pain attacks Kumo. And if you call me a fool again, I will take Iron Claw lessons from A! Just joking ;).**

** Review, Review, and Review some more!**


	61. Chapter 60: The Slaughter Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: YES! 800 reviews already! (Does a disturbing dance that causes readers to sweat drop before regaining composure and tries to take video camera from one of friends). Here's the next chapter that kicks off the battles in Iwa and Kumo, as well as the first semi final round in Suna. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 60: The Slaughter Begins**

""About time you two showed up," Kisame grunted as Hidan and his partner appeared, Hidan bearing a new scythe. His partner was a man who was almost as tall as him, wearing a skin tight metal body suit under his Akatsuki robes. He carried two swords, one a katana, the other a straight sword. The backs of his hands had protectors over them, the one over his right hand black and the other red. One of his light black shoulder guards was partially visible under his cloak, and it was undone enough to show his headband on a cloth large enough to tie around his chest. The insignia on it was that of the Hidden Moon Village, with the usual scratch along shoulder length hair was pure white and his eyes were deep black and bloodshot. **(A/N: This is an OC recommended by akatsukicolin, and I liked the idea. Hope said reviewer is happy he made his full appearance now!)**

"Sorry about that," Hidan's partner said. "He absolutely refused to get his ass in gear until he found another of that scythe he is so fond of."

"Shaddup Zurui, it's not my fault weapons of this design are hard to come by," Hidan snapped.

"True, but it _is _your fault that you got careless and lost the previous one to one of your foes, not to mention that finger of yours."

On reflex, Hidan forgot that he was missing said right middle finger and tried to make a rude gesture, causing Kisame to laugh. Kabuto meanwhile simply seemed deep in thought, currently scouting the area through Mu, the Nidaime Tsuchikage. "Odd, that falcon that is approaching does not seem to be a native to this area, and what is it carrying?" he asked aloud and maneuvered Mu to get closer before Kabuto/Mu's eyes widened and Mu quickly used the Dust Style: Atomic Dismantler to blast the bird, which was so intent on delivering a certain tri-pronged kunai to Iwa that it did not realize that there was someone behind it until it was already disintegrated by the attack, the kunai also being blasted.

"What was that about?" Kisame asked his partner as Kabuto exhaled a sigh of relief.

"That falcon had a Hiraishin kunai that was either Naruto's or the Yondaime Hokage's. Judging by the fact that the falcon had Rinnegan eyes and reports indicate that Naruto had the Rinnegan, we would likely have had to deal with him in addition to our already top priority mission. "

"So what?" Hidan asked. "Ya should have let him come, it would have given us a chance to take not two, but three of our targets in one fell swoop."

"Don't be retarded," the one called Zurui said. "We were given specific orders to avoid him until we could muster a good portion of our organization for his capture, and as Kabuto said, we already have other priorities."

….

Naruto began cursing nonstop under his breath. One of his falcons had just been taken out by a flash of energy if the Rinnegan line of sight was anything to go by, and the other one was currently encountering strong head winds as it struggled towards Kumo. That meant he would not be able to get a kunai to Iwa anymore and it would be longer than he had hoped before he could send a Shadow Clone via kunai to Kumo. He had to think about how to deal with the situation in Iwa now… he knew his father had a kunai there, but one of the things about Hiraishin is that one can only use their own seals to flash to locations.

Then he had a thought. He mentally directed his clone in the isolated village area to do a few things for him.

…..

Said clone got the message. Ever since Naruto awakened the Rinnegan, he could establish a mental connection between his clones and his summons, the same connection that linked the lines of sight. The clone had enough chakra in it to withstand biting his own thumb to draw blood before he cast the Summoning Jutsu. When the smoke cleared, Gamakichi was the one present.

"Hey there Naruto, you haven't summoned me since the days you wanted my help with a few pranks, what gives?" the growing toad demanded.

"Aw, yeah sorry about that Kichi, but listen, could you do me a favor?"

….

Back at the arena, a sweating Akari faced Haku, and Gaara raised his arm. "Begin!"

**(A/N: OST Sarutobi plays)**

Akari wasted no time in jumping back and forming hand seals, as Haku charged forward with an ice spear formed in a heartbeat. "Wood Style: Wood Shield Dome!" Akari declared and a dome of wood sprang up and covered Akari as Haku closed in.

"A mere defensive approach will not beat me!" Haku declared as he drove the spear forward, though he only managed to penetrate about a foot through the wall. Nonetheless, it was enough for Haku to do what he intended to. "Ice Style: Expanding Frost!" Haku shouted after doing a fast sequence of one had seals, keeping the point of his spear in the wood as he did so. There was a gunshot cracking noise as the dome split from the area of the spear point as more ice formed in the area at the point, basically putting pressure on the dome form the inside and forcing it apart. Akari struck out with a wooden spear the moment she could see Haku, and hit him in the chest, only to frown as he dissolved into water.

"Water Clone," she muttered as there was a whistling noise followed by two senbon impaling her through the neck, and she turned into wood to Haku's outward irritation and inward relief.

_"I was hoping that would be a clone, otherwise the fight would have ended then and the Akatsuki would have made their move. I still have to make this fight look good, or else people may get suspicious. So while I have to fight conservatively, I also can't go easy on Akari… So where is the real her?" _Haku thought as he searched for his red headed opponent, his eyes falling upon the interior of the dome, where there was a hole in the ground. _"Ah, I see, she escaped underground while leaving a Wood Clone to divert my attention, so… _Water Style: Flood Wave!" Water quickly filled the hole, making it evident that Haku was trying to force Akari to either come out or drown.

As Haku did this however, Akari emerged from the other wall of the dome, having hidden herself within it, and threw several exploding kunai at Haku, who moved so fast that they just went right through the spot he had previously occupied, and he dashed at Akari again, and stabbed her in the gut with three senbon. Once again she turned to wood. _"I see,"_ Haku thought._ "She made two clones and a hole in the ground to keep me diverted while she moved to whatever her actual goal was…what?" _The last part was thought as he noticed a seal on the forehead of the Wood Clone.

"Release!" Akari's voice shouted from the trees and the seal disappeared, and vines and roots grew at a fast rate from the Wood Clone some anchoring to the ground, the rest of it wrapping around Haku's arms and legs. Haku struggled for a second. "It does not matter how fast you are!" Akari declared as she cast the Summoning Jutsu, bringing a gorilla with thin metal plates for armor and a large hammer for a weapon. "If you can't move, speed is useless!"

_"So that's her game," _Haku thought as he formed ice to freeze the restraining roots and break them. _"She placed some of her chakra in that seal, and the moment she released it, the Wood Clone responded to the chakra and grew at an incredibly fast rate. She intends to retrain my movements to take my greatest advantage away from me!" _ The gorilla charged Haku just as the Yuki freed himself, but before he could get out of the path of the charging ape, some of the roots that anchored the clone to the ground emerged from the ground and wrapped around Haku's feet, once again restraining him. "A contingency," Haku muttered as he realized he would not get free in time. So he hastily threw three senbon at the charging berserker, hitting a few points of flesh, but nothing serious, before he raised both arms in a cross block and took the hit from the hammer dead on and was thrown halfway across the arena, having been hit with so much force, his root restraints broke.

He lay prone and Akari thought, _"Did I get him?"_

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

**(A/N: OST Akatsuki Plays)**

"Begin," the Deva Path of Pain said, and the Asura Path grabbed the Animal Path, before throwing Animal Path right over the wall of the village. Animal Path sailed for a brief period before he shouted, "Summoning Jutsu!" With a large burst of smoke, a giant rhino, ox and dog came into being, and proceeded to cause instant chaos. The Animal Path landed as his summons began tearing buildings down, ignoring the inconsequential shinobi who were making hasty and pitiful attempts to stop the attack. The Animal Path then summoned the other five Paths, Konan, and the cloaked figure, who lowered his hood. Not much was remarkable of this guy save the horizontal slit on his forehead. His hair was black, and his eyes were blue. He had a thin mustache similar to the Nidaime Mizukage's.

"Spread out and find the Nibi and the Hachibi jinchurikis," Deva Path ordered Konan and the man. "Remember Derek, you are here as backup, so avoid unneeded battles."

"I understand, Lord Pain," the man said as he unsealed two scimitars.

….

"And that is how my mission went, Raikage-Sama," J told his boss.

"Very good, take the rest of the day off," A told his subordinate after reading the mission report off. In the background, several Lightning Clones were hard at work on the Raikage's share of the Kage's curse.

The ground suddenly shook and a large black sharp object burst through the wall of the office, aiming straight for A. A responded fast, putting up his Lightning armor and grabbing the horn, stopping it as his back hit the opposite wall. "Raaahhh!" A shouted as he exerted himself and literally snapped the horn off of whatever creature it belonged to. There was a bellow of pain and anger as the creature bashed a hoof through the wall, and A grabbed a hysteric J and jumped out of the office. Outside, he had a better view of his office's assailant, a large ox missing the horn A had broken off.

"What the hell is going on!?" A demanded as the ox went off in another direction. A was about to give chase, but C landed next to him.

"Raikage-Sama!" C said. "Just a few moments ago, there was a chakra signature I sensed over the village, and then several others at the first one's location! We are under attack!"

"I knew that last part already!" A snapped. "J, get your messenger lizards to find as many of our strongest jonin as you can! C, where is B?"

"He is near the outskirts in one of the training grounds, but he is heading our way now! He likely saw the destruction going on from his location. Yugito is with him."

"J, tell one of your messenger lizards to get Yugito here on the double! Have it tell B to stay put and go that mode to blast the giant summons from a distance!"

"But sir," J protested. "Wont' that destroy a good portion of the village?"

"As long as B has enough sense to keep his Bijuu Bombs at low power, defeating the giant summons that whoever we are fighting is using should prevent more damage than it causes."

"Lord Raikage, why do you need Yugito?" C asked as J summoned several lizards. "You are not seriously thinking of using…"

"Yes, I am likely going to have to use the forbidden jutsu I developed after getting the Yondaime Hokage's warning, but I need Yugito's fire style to set it up for me," A said.

"But that jutsu is dangerous! That's why you labeled it a kinjutsu! Even you can only use it for five minutes at a time, and then you render yourself helpless!"

"Don't worry, I will save it as an absolute last resort, but I need to keep my options available. Wait here C, and when Yugito comes, direct her to my location!" Before C could protest any further, A dashed off after the ox he had dehorned.

…

"Pathetic. Shinra Tensei," Deva Path said casually as he carelessly walked down Kumo's streets and about twenty ninja tried to jump him. As expected, all twenty were blasted away like rag dolls.

"That is an impressive ability," a voice from behind Deva Path said as the speaker materialized behind Pain, and swung his cleaver blade at Pain from his vantage point, who responded by unsheathing a chakra rod and blocking the attack without even turning around. "But I have no intention of letting you have your way with this village!"

Pain broke away as Darui channeled lightning chakra through his sword and began to cut through the rod Pain used. Darui then turned around to face Preta Path before he launched his Laser Circus Jutsu. T Darui's shock, Preta Path just extended his hands and absorbed the potent jutsu into his chakra barrier.

"You don't have the power to stop me," Pain said as both of his Paths moved to stand side by side. Darui grit his teeth and entered his kenjutsu stance. "Shinra Tensei." Darui's eyes widened as a force slammed into him and blasted him through the wall of a building behind him.

….

"Earth Style: Sphere of Graves!" a reanimated Jirobo shouted as he grabbed the ground and pulled a large clod of earth from the ground. He then roared as he threw the huge rock he had ripped from the ground at the walls of Iwa. It crashed right on through, and caused instant panic.

Several shinobi tried to rush out of the hole in said wall and take out Jirobo, but they were stopped by spider silk fired by Kidomaru. Tayuya and Sakon accompanied Kabuto and Kisame through the hole and Kabuto chucked as he viewed the scene around him. "So far so good," Kabuto said as the alarms went throughout the village.

"I have to give you credit," Zurui said as he and Hidan followed. "That Edo Tensei Jutsu of yours is very useful indeed. Are you sure there is no catch?"

"None whatsoever," Kabuto replied as he directed Mu towards the Tsuchikage tower.

…

"Let's get going Gramps!" Kurotsuchi shouted as she looked out the window of the tower to view the attack going on.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Right!" Onoki said as he got up in a heartbeat. Bad mistake. CRACK! "MY BACK!" Onoki shouted as he collapsed.

Kurotsuchi sweat dropped to see her grandfather in such a miserable state. "Seriously, you would think you had already learned to watch the sudden movements by now. Do you want me to go on ahead while you recover?"

"Fool! I am the legendary Fence-Sitter of Iwa! A bad back will not defeat me this easily!" Onoki declared, though it was clear that he was struggling to move at this point.

"Fine, I'll take you with," Kurotsuchi said as she grabbed the elderly kage and used the Flight Technique to take them out of the building. Ever since Onoki had his memory restored, he had taken a more active role in his granddaughter's training, so she now had many of his abilities.

_"I hope that all our preparations are not in vain," _Onoki thought. _"We failed once before, but now we have a second chance. We cannot afford to waste it by failing again!"_

…..

Akari looked nervously at Haku who seemed down for the count. For a second, she was worried that she had killed the last of the Yuki clan, but her fears were set to rest when Haku got up, bleeding a little from the mouth. Akari then gave a small start as she saw cracks on Haku's arms and chest, and a thin layer of ice fell off of him and melted into the ground.

"No way, he coated himself in ice before the attack hit," Akari said, as she watched her gorilla charge, only for Haku to get behind the gorilla so fast Akari barely saw it, and hold a blade made of ice to the ape's neck from behind. Getting the message, Akari dismissed him.

"Not bad," Haku said as he wiped the blood from his mouth with his arm. "If it weren't for my Ice Armor, that would have been a knock out for sure. As it is, your summon still managed to crack a few bones I think."

"I should have known better to think that would be enough to win the fight. But that means we can have a bit more fun."

"I concur. It is clear that neither one of us will have an easy fight. So it wasn't a fluke that you beat Genyumaru."

Akari chuckled sheepishly before she ducked a few senbon.

**A/N: Review responses.**

**Arniecar145:**

**So Ay and Bee versus Pain, Konan, and the hooded figure? Oooooh me likes what I see. I actually thought Konohamaru would have won with that Rasengan...nice counter by Daisuke. Uchiha and their fast hand signs... _  
Anyway, cant wait to see all the shit hit the fan...right into the Akatsuki's faces.**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Yeah, the battle will be good, though when you say the shit will go right into the Akatsuki's faces, the battle won't be entirely one-sided. The shit is now on the fan, and the fan will be blowing for a while, so enjoy!**

**Death-Prince-3:**

**SO after feeling like utter crap for about 3ish days I went to check my mail for some work and see not one but TWO updates! Which I must say is awesomely awesomeness in an awesomely awesome can of awesome awesomeness plus made me feel alot better! So thanks! And one thing I'm confused about is whether or not Killer Bee will live or if it's just Yugito,Fuu and Naruto. And of your gonna have another one not be dead and if Bee IS alive, I'm hoping for Bubble Boy himself as last week's episode made me feel all sad and stuff ._. Poor Hotaru...**

Farewell your Majestic Majesty for not only publishing two great chapters but also making me feel far better *bows*

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**To answer your question, when I said I would spare as many as three jinchuriki, two of them being the ones voted for, and the third being of my choice, it was three of the six that were killed in the previous timeline and used as Paths by Obito. So B, Gaara and Naruto are not part of that promise. And you are quite wwlcome for the chapters by the way, though you are probably going to hate me for a little something I will have to say after the review responses.**

**w1lliam:**

**To Answer your question rasEnshur1Ken-sama ( here is you daily boost of ego, sir) you dont have to limit powers, just add short flashbacks to show how naruto got his (hirashin kunai in this case and how they got into the base), certain summons (especially ones with a funny backstory), etc**

Will the 'fun' begin next chapter or the one after that?  
Speakin of fun, dont do the Isaac vs tobi fight in one go, just make random cuts to them beween fight scènes of others (especially if you are at a cliffhanger point and use the scène as a short break)

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**The fun has begun in Iwa and Kumo, but has yet to in Suna. It will be in next chapter. As for your question on how the kunai got into Sound bases, there were a few chapters if you recall when Naruto and crew went to all of the pedo's bases to get rid of all the curse seals to prevent any possibility of Orochimaru returning again, as well as liberate a few things and people from them. It was of course only mentioned in a recent chapter that Naruto had left some of his kunai hidden in each base as a contingency. And thank you for boosting my ego some more. **

**gameipedia: **

**random question but around what chapter/part of the story do you think we'll see the 5-element Rasengan**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**It will be within the next five chapters if I go through with a plan I have. If not, it will be a little later, but I assure you, it will be awesome. **

**mellra:**

**Very good chapter and thanks so much for answering both of my reviews! I have to say this very seriously now: Keep Killer Bee alive! He's too awsome to die, ya fool! (barely dodges Iron Claw) *Ahem* Anyway, great chapter and I look forward to seeing more!**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Will you hold still so I can Iron Claw you? It's not supposed to be dodged! Don't worry, I won't kill B off, at least not anytime soon.**

**ThomasNealy:**

**So one of the trade marks of the fourth Hokage is now common as mud. what should have been a secret family jutsu is now as common as academy clone. Then there is shadow clone something else you seem to spam with every other character in the story when it was something that was rather rare in cannon. What next is every one going to get a biju and the ringagan?**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**(Winces) Harsh flame, but I suppose I deserved it at least a little. I won't deny that I should have made sure the Rasengan was a bit more exclusive, and it won't be used much outside of the Namikaze family from here, (Hinata is an exception because of her Rasenken, but she is pretty much part of the family by now). Of course, I may mention that a lot of jonin know the Shadow Clone Jutsu, Ebisu knew it in the anime, so it was not all that rare. And hell no on the Rinnegan and Bijuu. Other than Naruto, there is only going to be one other person who will get his/her hands on it outside of canon, and I am pretty sure you can all guess who that will be. There is also the possibility that I will make a Sanbi jinchuriki, but that's still on the fence.**

**Titokhan:**

**out of left field (sometimes love to use baseball referrences) is a way to say something is non-traditional.**

Naruto, and now Akari seems to specialize in thinking outside the box battlefield tactics. I've seen the wind whisper jutsu somewhere recently. I think I know where, but want to make sure, might PM you in the morning. as I really need to get SOME sleep. :P

and here I was concerned that Matsuri was too beat up to handle Moegi. that desert mirage jutsu comes in real handy against anyone else I guess, but I don't think it'll affect Daisuke's eyes.

You cut the Matsuri/Moegi fight a little short to know if Moegi was actually able to show anything, so I think she's still on the bubble. making the semi's locked Matsuri's promotion though. Kono should make it as well.

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**It was in Cruel Fate, Kind Destiny I last saw it in, though I am pretty sure it was in a few other fics, though I cant's think of any off the top of my head, so I am not sure who to give credit to. Hope you slept well. **

**There will be no new chapters tomorrow or during the weekend for a few reasons. First off, the library I do my work from closes tomorrow for maintenance, and it will be my birthday anyway, so I was planning on taking a break. As for the weekend, the library hours are shortened on Saturdays and Sundays, and I happen to work both days during hours that will make it impossible to get more than about an hour a day at the library during said days. I will try to post one on Monday, so keep your fingers crossed. **

**And please give me the birthday gift of reviews!**


	62. Chapter 61: Kumo's Battle

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I'm back! I actually enjoyed my little break more than I thought I would. Maybe I should take more breaks from this story (dodges a multitude of projectiles from the audience, including but not limited to shuriken, kunai, exploding tags, an elephant (how did that get off the ground?), a rasenshuriken (I saw that Naruto!), and several illegal weapons like bazookas (Someone really needs to crack down on the black market!).). I was just kidding about taking the breaks, jeez, can't you all take a joke?**

**Enjoy this chapter! Sorry it took me a little longer than expected to get it out, but it took a little effort to get my momentum back up!**

**Chapter 61: Kumo's Battle**

"How is it going Minato?" Jiraiya asked his former student as the blonde examined a seal matrix on his chest and gut.

"Excellent actually Sensei," Minato replied. "This seal of mine can store about thirty minutes worth of the natural energy for Sage Mode now, so I don't have to worry about buying time in the middle of fights."

"Yeah, that is why you took so long to learn Sage Mode in the first place. You prefer speed and ending fights fast to those tactics that involve dragging things out. But now that you developed that seal, you have a similar advantage to that Felix."

"I'm still working on extending the amount of energy it can hold to about an hour in case I need to fight prolonged battles, but it will serve for now."

"Excuse me, honored Minato-Sama!" Gamakichi shouted as he hopped up to where the two Sages were.

"Oh hello Gamakichi," Jiraiya said. "What do you need?"

"I actually have a favor for Naruto to ask of you," the toad replied, and Minato blinked.

"Oh, he's back then?" Minato replied.

"Yeah, but now is not the time to talk about lost time, this is urgent!" Gamakichi shouted before he fully explained the situation. "Naruto asked me to bring this to you!" Gamakichi said as he opened his mouth and unrolled his tongue, handing Minato a Hiraishin kunai.

"I see," Minato said before he took one of his own kunai out, as well as a small scroll. He then proceeded to write a few hasty words into the scroll, before attaching it to the kunai and using one of his transportation jutsus to send it to the tag he had put on Naruto.

"What did you just send him?" Jiraiya asked.

"A note that told him that I would handle Iwa, but if I needed help, I would put some chakra into the kunai he sent me to let him know. If Suna and Kumo are also being attacked, he will need to divide his chakra as little as possible."

"I see, that does make sense, I hope the Gaki sees it as well. Do you mind if I tag along to Iwa with you?"

"Glad you asked. I would be happy to have you."

Gamakichi chuckled. "Ironic that of all the people to help Iwa now, the Yellow Flash is the one who will assist them after pummeling them before."

….

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he discreetly read the scroll his father sent him. He then sighed as he decided to take the advice and devote his chakra to helping Suna and Kumo. After all, it was the Yondaime Hokage who would be helping Iwa, so he should be able to handle a few Akatsuki members.

His attention turned back to the match as he watched Akari duck behind a few more branches to avoid the flurry of senbon Haku was sending at her.

**(A/N: OST Rising Dragon Plays)**

"Wood Style: Wooden Spears!" Akari shouted as several stakes emerged from the trees around her and shot at Haku. Haku made to dodge, but several roots emerged from the ground again to try restraining him. This forced Haku to instead raise a shield of ice to take the stakes before he froze the roots and broke them.

_"As long as I have these roots under my feet to restrain me at any time, Akari will be able to attack me with little fear I can avoid her attacks. And if I keep erecting ice shields, I will run out of chakra fast," "So…"_

Haku slapped his hands to the ground and shouted, "Ice Style: Permafrost Jutsu!" There was a crackling noise as the ground beneath Haku's feet was suddenly frozen in a radius of over ten feet. Haku smirked with satisfaction as Akari realized that her roots would be useless at this point, since they would not be able to move through the frozen solid soil. "Now then, let's continue," Haku said as he took out several more senbon and infused some ice chakra into them.

"Seriously, where does he keep those things?" Akari asked, not seeing any storage seals. Haku simply launched senbon after senbon, also using the same principle as Itachi and Sasuke did, using some projectiles to deflect others, and forcing Akari to remain a moving target. Akari put her last food pill in her mouth before she noticed that everywhere the needles struck, ice seemed to spread from the point of penetration.

"Ice Style: Frostbite Needles," Haku said as many trees gained several spots of ice from the locations the needles hit. Haku then paused as a breeze went by his ear.

"Feel free to finish the match now if you can beat Akari," Naruto's voice said in the Yuki's ear. "I'm done setting up my clones and kunai in places around the village." Haku smirked as he realized that this must be the Wind Whisper Jutsu Naruto had mentioned before. It clearly used the air to carry sound waves to an intended recipient of a message.

"Shoot, if any of those hit me, I will be a popsicle in no time," Akari mused before she cast some signs. "Earth Style: Artificial Canyon!" She stomped on the ground and a fissure opened up, heading right for Haku.

"That only works on a stationary target!" Haku shouted in response as he leapt out of the way of the attack and launched a few more senbon. Akari however was waiting for that, and launched an exploding kunai at her airborne foe. Unfortunately, when it struck, Haku simply splashed into water.

"Water Clone!" Akari cursed and whipped around to see Haku running though the thinnest area of the forest at her. Akari quickly manipulated tree branches to try to attack and hinder her opponent while throwing some of her kunai to make it more of a challenge to reach her. However, Haku displayed extreme skill and speed by using his frostbite needles to freeze the branches attacking him and used several normal senbon to deflect the Akari's projectiles without even breaking stride.

He then threw three more needles at Akari , who grabbed a tree and pulled a wooden staff from it, using it to deflect the three senbon, before she felt a stabbing pain in one of her thighs, the right one, followed by numbness. She looked down and saw that one of the frostbite needles had been thrown after the first three, and had caught her in the afflicted area. Akari cursed as she knew she would now be unable to effectively use that leg for the rest of the fight.

Haku closed in, and Akari swung her staff to try to brain the young man, but Haku knocked it from her with senbon he kept in his grip and he stabbed forward with them next, intent on ending the fight. Akari brought her left arm up to block, and the senbon went into her wrist, and ice began to freeze her arm. Before Haku could do anything else, Akari braced he unfrozen hand against the tree she was next to, and kicked with her unfrozen leg. She was aiming for the gut, but due to a slight miscalculation, she ended up hitting something a little… lower.

Haku went pale and thought, _"You've… gotta be… kidding me…" _He jumped back before Akari could take advantage of his moment of weakness, clutching his crotch with one hand in pain **(A/N: Bet you're wishing I made you a girl in this story right now, eh Haku? Speaking of gender confusion…)**.

Naruto was cackling at the expense of both Haku and a good portion of the males (and a few females) in the crowd who initially looked confused before it dawned on them. "Wait… she's a guy?!" could be heard all over the arena, followed by a few dry heaves as several of the men who had been crushing on Haku the whole time were suddenly feeling rather ill. Kankuro and Genyumaru were sympathetic to both Haku and the crowd at this point, both having made the mistake of thinking Haku was a girl themselves, and both knowing the pain of having that most vulnerable place hit.

Haku recovered miraculously fast and ran at the partially frozen Namikaze, clearly pissed at this point despite his calm outward appearance. Akari panted slightly as she once again manipulated tree branches to hider Haku, though not as many as before. Haku merely dodged this time and closed in. Akari took out a kunai, though it was clear that Haku would get her before she got him. That is, until she smirked, formed a seal and shouted, "Release!"

Haku gave a small start as roots suddenly burst from the sleeve of his kimono and spread all over his body, immobilizing him with his senbon less than three centimeters from Akari's face. Akari then pressed her weapon against Haku's neck. "I win," the red head declared.

**(A/N: End OST)**

Apparently, Gaara agreed, and raised his arm and announced Akari as the victor. The crowd was speechless at the sudden turnaround when they had been so sure that Haku's last attack would hit. "How did you grow those roots on me?" Haku asked as he froze his restraints and broke free of them.

"Remember when you attacked earlier and I blocked with my now frozen arm? I was able to throw one of these down your sleeve then," Akari said as she held up a small seed with a miniscule sealing matrix on it. "That kick I launched as I did so was merely a diversion to keep you from noticing. Sorry, I was aiming for your gut," she laughed as Haku canceled his ice jutsu on her arm and her leg. Both limbs would be numb for a good while, but no permanent damage had been done.

"I see, so the sealing matrix restrains your chakra on those and when it is released, the seed responds to your then free chakra and grows at an explosive rate. Not bad at all," Haku said.

"Yep, and thanks," Akari said as she tested her thawed limbs. "Trouble is, it takes forever to write the seal on something so tiny, because it is hard as hell to write a seal that small while paying attention to detail."

I'll bet," Haku said as Akari leaned on his and the Yuki assisted her to the competitor's spectators section.

Akari chuckled as she said, "Ironic. I won the match, but you are clearly in better shape than I am."

Gaara then called for Daisuke and Matsuri to come down for the final semi final round.

…

**(A/N: OST Girei Plays)**

Darui panted as he once again fired his black lightning panther at the Deva Path, only for Preta Path to absorb the jutsu. Darui had counted on that however, and used that distraction to get behind Preta Path and try to swing his sword at the chubby foe. However, Deva Path extended one of his hands and said, "Bansho Tenin."

Just as Darui's blade was about to decapitate Preta Path, he felt himself get yanked back by Deva Path's power. _"He can attract thing to him too!?" _ Darui thought frantically. _"I only saw him repel attacks until now. I had hoped that positioning myself between those two guys would make it so that even if he used that Shinra Tensei of his, I would have merely been knocked into the absorber guy and still have a shot at finishing him!" _

Darui's thoughts ended as Deva Path grabbed him by the neck from behind and slammed him into the ground with enough force to crack it. He then stabbed the Kumo jonin through the chest with a chakra blade, pinning him to the ground, and keeping him from using chakra.

"I am impressed that you have lasted this long against me, but it is time for you to stop wasting my time. Now then," Pain said as he prepared another rod and made to stab Darui in a vital spot. Before he could, he was forced to dodge as Preta Path's line of sight showed him an incoming attack from behind at a very fast speed. The attacker rushed Pain again, cloaked in lightning, but was repelled when Pain used his Shinra Tensei.

A was thrown back, but regained his balance quickly and once again charged. Pain's eyes narrowed as he realized that he would have a hard time keeping A away from him for the cool down period of his power. Fortunately, Preta Path came between A and Deva Path and activated the Chakra Absorption Barrier. "What the hell?" A demanded as his lightning cloak was absorbed into the Path, and he was kicked in the gut by Deva Path while his cloak was down, sending him back again, but with no damage. His lightning cloak came back, and he dashed to Darui's location.

"Raikage-Sama," Darui said as A removed the chakra rod. "Please be careful. The fat one is capable of absorbing ninjutsu , though he seems vulnerable to physical attacks, and the other one can attract and repel objects and attacks, though I don't think he can use them in fast succession. I'm sorry, but I do not think I will be able to fight anymore."

"Don't worry about it," A said as he tossed the rod away and made a Lightning Clone. The clone picked Darui up and A said, "Get him to a medic now."

Deva Path tried to strike A from behind with one of his rods, but A dodged with lightning speed, and his clone dashed off. A then tried to retaliate, shouting, "Lateral Bolt of Pain: Chop!" His arm went for Deva Path's head.

"Shinra Tensei." Once again, A was thrown back, this time into the waiting arms of Preta Path, who once again absorbed his lightning cloak and got him in a Full Nelson, draining his chakra. A immediately noticed the drain.

"Oh no you don't!" he shouted as he thrashed for a moment before he was able to flip Preta Path over him, and then pinned his foe to the ground with his knees and threw his fist at Preta Path's face.

"Bansho Tenin," Deva Path said. A was lifted off of Preta Path and pulled at Deva Path, who thrust a chakra rod forward, aiming for the Raikage's heart. A snarled and managed to twist a little in midair, causing the rod to impale his shoulder instead. A then saw the image of Rinnegan eyes in his mind as his chakra went haywire.

"You will know Pain," Deva Path said as he got another rod and stabbed at A again.

"Don't think so!" A shouted as he brought his lightning armor back with herculean effort despite the rod in his shoulder, and shattered the incoming one with a swat of his hand, before grabbing Deva Path by the face and throwing him through the walls of several buildings. The Path skidded for a few seconds before righting himself. A then yanked the rod from his shoulder and tossed it aside. "You chumps are going to be mincemeat by the time I am done with you!" A declared before he heard a loud screech above them. He looked up and saw a giant bird with three legs and a jagged beak, with the same eyes as his two opponents. On its back was the Animal Path.

The bird laid several eggs in midair and they landed between Deva Path and A. Deva Path extended one hand and said, "Bansho Tenin." A was once again yanked to his foe, and just as he reached the eggs, they exploded like Christmas trees.

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

"B, we gotta hurry!" Yugito shouted as her fellow jinchuriki straightened his seven swords.

"**Yo,** I** know!" **B rapped back at her before a lizard with a scroll on it back ran up to them.

"That's one of J's!" Yugito said as she took the small scroll from the lizard and hastily read it.

"Hey, we can't **stay, **what's it **say?" **B asked.

Yugito looked troubled before she said, "Actually B, you will stay here and go into Bijuu Mode. Your brother wants you to take care of those summons from a distance with your Bijuu Bombs and keep out of the main battle."

"That's no **fair, **why is my brother such a **bear? **What about **you, **what are you gonna **do?**"

"I am supposed to locate C and have him point me to your brother's location. I have to be ready to help him use his Twin Edge Storm Armor is he needs it."

"Whoa, is he sure that's **bright? **That jutsu will do him a lot of harm if he doesn't quickly end the **fight."**

"If the Raikage is really contemplating using that kinjutsu, he must feel as if our foes are strong enough to warrant it. Don't worry, he's not going to use it unless he gets backed into a corner, he just needs me there in case of such a contingency."

B looked like he was going to argue further, but Yugito was already off. "Great, now I have to do my thing from a long way **away, **but hopefully I can keep the creatures tearing up our home at **bay." **

**"Be ready for some of them to come to us B," **Gyuki lectured in B's mindscape.

"Heh, if they do, they will learn that they don't wanna mess with **me, **and you know why, 'cause I'm a Killer **Bee! **Wheeeeeeee!" B shouted as he went into full Bijuu Mode.

…

Several Kumo ninja charged Konan, only to get shredded by a storm of her paper. "Pathetic," she said as the Asura Path next to her suddenly spotted a large shape appear in the distance. Konan saw it too, and said, "The Hachibi I presume. Are we going?"

The Asura Path nodded and took off with several chakra boosters and Konan followed behind on her paper wings.

**A/N: Now to my dedicated reviewers!**

**SkyRune:**

**rasEnshur1Ken-sama, great work with the preparation's. I am eager to see what happens. I had a thought that if the Akatsuki can not get Gaara, then they could get the Clay Kettle that contained the Ichibi since it should still contain some of its power. just thought that it might give you some ideas. keep it up, U can do it.**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**That is a very good idea. I was just planning on having Gaara getting captured despite the efforts of Naruto and co, but get rescued before Shukaku was fully extracted, but your idea may help me shorten the story a little bit, because I know people are eager for the climax I have planned. Thanks, I am allowed to use that right?**

**mrj97:**

**Sorry for not reviewing until now, but I don't usually review before I read all the released chapters :P  
It's a very good story and I love how you put in the ocs and the elder dimension other dimensions :)  
Keep up the good work! I lokk forward to your next release xD**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Nice to have a new reviewer! Hope you stay with my story!**

**cook563: **

**great chapter, can't wait to find out what Naruto is asking Gamakichi but it most likely has something to do with his father and his kunai in Iwa. Also i can't wait to see who wins this round, it could easily go either way but it does have to be long enough for Naruto to have his plan set up and ready for when Akari does lose. keep up the great work and I'm also looking forward to the little 'chat' Daisuke will be receiving from Akari's family**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Pretty much yes, that is what Naruto asked Gamakichi. And Daisuke will be so in for it when Naruto gives "Ten Rules for Dating my Sister." That will be an Omake. **

**FlameDragon14:**

**Glad to see things finally starting to get serious with the Invasion. I greatly enjoy this story and although I understand having to use a computer that isnt yours to write your stories on, I can't help but admit that I enjoyed your story when it had longer chapters. Having it come out as fast as it is and as short as it is makes it feel like you are simply trying to make a story with a lot of chapters in hopes of gaining more viewers. I know this isn't the case but, I can't help but feel that is what is happening.  
Either way, please continue your story and I am personally lolling forward to the day Hinata gains acsses to Naruto's Animal Path and summons a big ass Hydra. That will be so bad ass!**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Sorry if that is the impression I gave, I just wanted to have a good update rate above longer chapters. While I care a great deal about reviews, I would rather have a good average of reviews per chapter than a lot of reviews in general. I will try to make my chapters longer from now on. And it will be awesome when Hinata gets Animal Path!**

**Redsox31:**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  
Looks like things are starting to heat up with the Akatsuki. I hope the Akari/Haku fight finds a way to surpass some of the previous fights.**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Thanks for the happy birthday, and I hope the fight met your expectations.**

**mellra:**

**Oh, I just had an awsome idea that I had to write about while I was thinking of it: somethime after the invasions are done, have Killer Bee and Isaac meet. Then, Killer Bee teaches Isaac the beauty of rap and he takes to it like a fish does to air, but both Killer Bee and Isaac seem ignorant of this fact.**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**I never thought of that… that's… brilliant! And while I am at it, why don't I get him acquainted with Lee and Gai, and have him run around in spandex and screaming about youth? I think we can create a terrible monster here. This is looking to be the start of a beautiful relationship! (Cackles evilly) Who wants to bet that Felix will try to leave him behind when the time comes to return to the ED? **

**thecreatorofpolides: **

**happy b day man i hope u have a good time though i am curious is it at all possible for either pein or naruto to see through the others eyes since both have the rinnegan or is it like hirashin where only the user can well use it if not then cool if so then also cool because either way in the end there should be a rinnegan vs rinnegan fight which i think would be awesome**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Thank you, and yes, it is like Hiraishin kunai, each source of Rinnegan eyes can only see from their own sets, and not other Rinnegan bearer's sets.**

**Guest:**

**Since you said Felix is confronting Drakmus, and Felix knows that the reason Drakmus hates him was actually a genjutsu, couldn't he use the Pulse Imprint Jutsu and show Drakmus it was a genjutsu, and basically convert Drakmus to the good side? Maybe sacrifice himself to save them after realizing he was tricked, admist awesome music and shitloads of cool jutsu?**

...on second thought, don't kill him off. He's too awesome to die. But convert him to the good side like that!

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**The transition, if there is one, will not be an easy one for Drakmus. I actually plan to have a poll on what occurs from here with him after his fight with Felix. If you want a vote, I recommend getting an account. **

**roukie95:**

***HBD* Author sama...don't know Wat I Wld do without u dis weekend ooh my God!..sorry i will just av to be reminding myself..*its is birthday...I can't kill him*...*its is birthday I can't kill him*...*its is birthday i-*RASENGAN!*..*destroys the wall..*sigh*...that feels a lot better *sigh*...AM STILL WAITING!..BAKA YARO!...**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**(Comes out of his hidey hole, shivering) Glad you are not part of my story, other than being a reviewer, otherwise I would have others on my ass about another user of Naruto's jutsu… Please don't kill me, I can't write this story if I'm dead…**

**Titokhan:**

**The longer Haku can make this fight last, the more prepared Naruto and Co are. Gamakichi hopefully also has one of Naruto's hirashin kunai with him to give to Minato to flash to Iwa with.**

so many bad people around.. to get their butts handed to them by the good guys.

*grabs his sweet and spicy BBQ sun chips from Chouji* MINE! I need something yummy to eat while 'watching' the fights

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**(Holds an enraged Choji back and gets pummeled by oversized fists in the process) The things I do for my reviewers… I hope the invasion battles will be satisfactory,**

**Death-Prince-3:**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE KING Of FAN FICTION! ALL HAIL TO ANOTHER YEAR OF OUR KING'S LIFE! IF ANY OF YOU DARE STOP THIS...I SHALL END YOU IN A MOST PAINFUL WAY! WE SHALL ALL CELEBRATE AND SHOULD I HEAR ANY COMPAINTS...well...lets say that you may not be reading anything for a while MWAHAHAHAHAHA!**

Anywho, thats fine, Enjoy Yourself! And Great Chapter yet again!

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Eep, looks like I have some very…dedicated vassals. Please do your duty and keep roukie95 from killing me! And my birthday was very happy, thank you!**

**mellra:**

**Good chapter! Don't yah hate when one of the bad guys get the upper hand (Kabuto spotting Naruto's summons). Anyway, looking forward to next chapter and Happy Birthday! Now, what to get you as a gift? Oh, I know! (holds still enough for writer to use Iron Claw) Hope you-gack!-enjoy!**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Bet Minato will give those guys a hard time, lol. And that's what you get for calling me a fool, ya fool!**

**gameipedia:**

**Happy early B-Day Author-Sama also I hope the next chapters come as soon as possible, but why can you only write in a Library, do you not own your own computer?**

**rasEnshur1Ken: **

**Nope, I do not own a computer of my own. The only one at my house is my brother's and he is very territorial when it comes to things viruses can get on, so that is out. **

**So sorry I that it took me so long to get this chapter out, but at least you can all finally read it! I hope you all enjoy the next one, I will try to maintain a fast update pace, but I also want to write longer chapters now, at least 4,500 words each, so don't expect a chapter a day. At most, three a week. Hopefully the longer length of the chapters will make the waits worth it!**

**I will start next chapter off with some scenes from Iwagakure. Please Review!**


	63. Chapter 62: Minato's Assistance

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: This will be one of my longer chapters. I hope that Minato helping Iwagakure and the next match prove to be satisfactory. **

**Chapter 62: Minato's Assistance**

**(A/N: OST Kokuten plays)**

"Gramps!" Kurotsuchi shouted at her grandfather as one of her Rock Clones was taken out by the Dust Style blast and she fired off a fire jutsu at the general area the blast came from. To her fury, she missed her invisible target. Onoki did not have any more luck with his own Dust Style attack. Ever since they had been ambushed by Mu, they had been struggling in a game of cat and mouse. They could not detect him, so they had made Rock Clones at Onoki's suggestion to try to get Mu to reveal his general location as he picked them off. Trouble was, he was far too mobile, and they had yet to land a lucky shot.

What was worse, Kurotsuchi was down to two clones, meaning if Mu attacked her again, he had one third of a chance of getting the real her. He grandfather was better off with five clones. "I'm behind you Onoki!" Mu's voice shouted before the geezer was destroyed by a beam of Dust Style. Luckily, it was another clone.

After another set of misses, Kurotsuchi had an idea. "Gramps, I'm going to try something, but we need to go this way," she murmured in his ear.

Onoki raised an eyebrow and asked, "Just what are you going to do?!" he demanded.

"I'm going to make our foe easier to detect," she said as she cast several hand signs. "But we need to get over the nearby lake if it is to work." Several more rock clones came into being as both she and the Tsuchikage flew at the lake, the invisible Mu behind them, blasting away at Kurotsuchi's decoys. She wa lucky enough to reach the lake with her grandfather before Mu took a shot at the real her. Luckily, she saw it coming and she formed cylinder of chakra between her hands and fired hers off at the same time.

Both Dust Style techniques collided, and they exploded in a large sphere that took out a good portion of the ground. Luckily, there had been no one there.

"Aw, I see that you have found a student to teach my art to, eh Onoki? She has inherited the ability to use Dust Style as well, I'm impressed," Mu said as he went invisible again.

"He was relentless in training me in the wind element," Kurotsuchi deadpanned. "I already had a grasp of fire and earth so I could use my Lava Style Kekkei Genkai, but wind was hard. But I did it in less than two years thanks to his drill sergeant manner of teaching. It was like I had a deadline to learn or something."

"A Lava Style Kekkei Genkai as well?" Mu's voice asked. "I always wondered if being able to use a Kekkei Touta would also potentially give a user access to a Kekkei Genkai or two within two of the same elements, but I never attempted this myself. Of course, it is also possible that it was just something else you inherited from a different ancestor. Watch out, I'm about to fire again!"

Onoki responded this time by switching out with a Rock Clone that was disintegrated. At this point, they were above the necessary body of water.

"Here goes nothing!" Kurotsuchi shouted in anticipation. "Fire Style: Flamethrower Jutsu!" An inferno of flames erupted from her mouth and went straight down to the surface of the lake. Onoki was confused for a moment, before steam rose up from the surface of the water, and the moment he saw the steam part where Mu was, he realized what his granddaughter had come up with.

"Not bad at all!" Onoki declared as he fired his Dust Style at the steam distortion. Mu could only agree as he hastily dodged the blast, but was then caught by one of Kurotsuchi's, which dismantled him from the waist down. One of Onoki's Rock Clones proceeded to throw a punch at the remaining upper half of his former mentor, knocking it into the water.

Kurotsuchi then cast several hand signs and shouted, "Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu!" A massive glob of the quicklime shot forth, and just as the still regenerating Mu surfaced, he was caught in the jutsu, and the water of the lake caused the lime to harden and trap Mu. The lime began to sink, but Onoki was able to grab the edge and pull it out of the water with his Lightened Boulder Jutsu. Kurotsuchi then covered the prison with more of the substance.

"Be careful," Mu said as his face started to get covered. "I was able to split off a moment ago while I was under the water."

"Split off?" Kurotsuchi asked Onoki once Mu had been sufficiently restrained.

"He is referring to his special Fission Technique," Onoki replied as he started scanning the water. "He can divide himself and his chakra, though neither half can use Dust Style until they reunite. So we still have to beat him, but he's weakened."

Kurotsuchi nodded as she splashed water from the lake onto the quicklime to harden it before she said, "You know, this would have been easier if you hadn't talked me into forgoing my Water Style training in favor of learning Wind Style so I could use that Kekkei Touta of yours **(A/N: In canon, she used her Water Style jutsu to help her Lava Style attacks harden, but in this story, I wrote that it so that she had only learned her Water Style recently in the previous timeline, which meant that Onoki teaching her his secrets disrupted that)**. Not that I'm complaining, Dust Style is awesome."

Onoki ignored her in favor of searching for Mu in the waters of the lake, looking for either the splash of the fragment emerging from the water, or a spot where the water seemed to be nonexistent in the shape of a human. He cursed the fact that Edo Tensei could not drown, not that he wished that on his former mentor.

….

"I really hate you Akatsuki jerks," Han growled as he stared down Kabuto and Hidan. "I always seem to get foes who won't die and recover from my attacks in a heartbeat." He growled as he remembered his run in with Jess.

"Well, you could consider yourself lucky that your blows will actually cause us pain," Hidan said as he popped his recently dislocated shoulder back into place with a slight wince. There was also a depression in his chest where Han had hit him earlier, shattering ribs and forcing bone fragments into vital organs.

Kabuto was also healing from a hole in his gut. "I'll say, the blows that you can land with that steam propulsion are probably enough to make even Tsunade of the Sannin jealous. But if brawn is all you've got, you can't beat us."

"We'll see about that!" Han snarled as he blasted forward and threw a steam powered punch at Hidan, which impacted his cheek and snapped his neck. But Hidan was still able to swing his custom scythe at Han, though it did no damage to the jinchuriki's armor. Han was then restrained momentarily by Kabuto's snakes, but he released steam that was so hot, their scaly skins were boiling instantaneously.

Han then sent the steam at Kabuto, who jumped back to avoid the hot vapor. Kabuto then cast a water style jutsu to disperse the vapor before shed his cloak. The markings around his eyes had extended and he now had four horns and darkened sclera. "Oh yes, we shall see," the Snake Sage said as his eyes changed into the Miraiyochigan. "In fact, I already see that you won't dodge this. Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"

Han showed great surprise as the ground itself suddenly bent in ways that caused several pillars to shoot up and smash into his body, and throw him back. Kabuto then formed Sakon from his navel snake and asked, "Tell me, does that fancy armor of yours protect you from genjutsu?" Kimimaro formed from the shape of Sakon and made a flute out of his bone before converting to Tayuya, who played the Chains of Fantasia Jutsu. Han suddenly found himself frozen in a genjutsu that had him restrained by snakes that were unaffected by his steam.

"I didn't think so," Kabuto said with a smirk as he walked up to Han with a snake prepared to inject knockout drugs into the jinchuriki. Before he did, his dojutsu reactivated, and warned him about a blow from Han. Even without the eyes, he would likely have still dodged it with his Sage Mode reflexes, but the dojutsu certainly didn't hurt.

"Actually, it does," Han said smugly as he winced slightly. When he had been caught in the genjutsu, he had been able to direct some of the steam from his armor to his own skin and slightly burn himself, and the pain broke the genjutsu.

"Not bad, not sure how you did that, but breaking out of that particular genjutsu is no easy feat," Kabuto applauded.

"Heh, this guy is very entertaining, it's a pity I can't sacrifice him to Jashin-Sama," Hidan said.

"I won't mess with you punks anymore!" Han shouted as a cloak of red chakra and two tails manifested. "I'm putting an end to this now!"

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

"Matsuri and Daisuke, begin!" Gaara shouted and Daisuke immediately rushed forward with one katana drawn and his Sharingan active.

**(A/N: OST Ripple plays)**

_"My Desert Mirage Jutsu won't work on those eyes, so I would just be wasting my time with using it," _Matsuri thought as she lashed out with her johyo to try to keep Daisuke at bay. Of course, Daisuke easily weaved between each attempted strike, and it was only the fact that Matsuri was moving backwards that kept Dasiuke from easily closing the distance. _"Trouble is, most of my offensive techniques are also bad ideas. He can easily avoid my johyo with that Sharingan of his, and close combat taijutsu is also out with the eyes and his katanas. That leaves my Wind Style fan techniques, and my Banshee Shriek, but he's a Fire Style user, so my only shot is to hit him with as much power in a Wind Style Jutsu as I can, and hope I overpower his counter, but that has the risk of frying either one of us alive… so I should try something else first." _Matsuri threw a few of her rarely used shuriken at Daisuke, who dodged them, and Matsuri poured as much chakra into her feet as she could and dashed around her opponent to intercept her own weapons and use her fan to deflect their course at Daisuke again.

Unfortunately, Daisuke easily deflected the attempt, and closed in briefly, slashing at Matsuri, who leapt back, though she still got a deep cut across her stomach. _"I have a really bad match up," _the Sand kunoichi thought as she panted and looked at Gaara. "Gaara-Sensei, please be ready to save either one of us from what will happen next," Matsuri requested and Gaara nodded.

Daisuke charged again, and Matsuri cast hand seals, gathering up all of her chakra. "Wind Style: Banshee Shriek!" The wind blast issued from her mouth, powerful enough to uproot trees if it hit said trees.

Daisuke stopped his charge and cast his own seals in a hurry. "Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" The largest fireball he had ever yet issued emerged as he put as much chakra as he could into the jutsu, and Fire and Wind Style attacks collided, battling for supremacy. Whoever lost this would have the fanned flames sent in their direction, and it would incinerate all in its path.

For a moment, there was no clear victor, but the flames then overcame the wind blast and roared towards Matsuri. She crossed her arms in a feeble defense before the far more substantial defense of Gaara's sand came between her and Daisuke's flames. The inferno raged hot enough to turn a few feet of the sand into glass, but was put out after a few seconds. "That would have been a devastating collaboration jutsu," Sasuke said to Sakura, and she nodded in agreement.

Gaara then declared Daisuke the victor, and Akari groaned about having to fight her own teammate.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"I'm sorry I lost Gaara-Sensei," Matsuri said hoarsely, rubbing her neck as she rose. That Banshee Shriek Jutsu was bloody murder on the throat of the user.

"Don't be. You had already won two matches, and your opponent was the worst one you could have fought in these exams. And I saw Akari, Genyumaru and Haku fight, so that's saying a lot on how disadvantaged you were," Gaara said. "At any rate, you are almost sure to make chunin from what you have shown."

Matsuri nodded her thanks, since she didn't want to strain her vocal cords at the moment, and went back up to the contestant seats, wondering how long it would take for her to get enough chakra back before she could do a medical ninjutsu on her neck.

"We will hold the finals in ten minutes!" Gaara shouted to the spectators.

….

"Get back, you beasts!" a ninja from Iwa demanded as the Sound Four approached the group in their Second States. There had been about two hundred Iwa ninja fighting them at the start of the battle, but now there were about 50 left, most of them barely able to stand. The other 150 were either dead or close to it.

Tayuya simply played her flute to freeze the group in a genjutsu and Jirobo lifted up a large slab of rock to crush a good portion of the surviors. "I really gotta hand it to this Edo Tensei Jutsu," Kidomaru said with his golden spider web weaons in all six hands. "We can go all out without having to worry about chakra exhaustion after using the curse seals. This means we can crush these weak players with impunity, haha."

"Earth Style: Stone Imprisonment Jutsu!" a voice shouted and the Sound Four were suddenly trapped by rock that came up and completely encased them. This would not have been a problem, because they could all have broken free if given a few seconds, but they weren't. A tri pronged kunai with a sealing formula on it was thrown at each of the prisons, and in four flashes that took less than half a second for all of them combined, a seal had been put on each prison, fully binding the prisoners.

"Nice work catching them in that Jiraiya-Sensei," Minato said as he inspected the seals he had put on the stones to be sure they would hold, completely ignoring the Iwa ninja that all seemed to be competing for the best fish impression as they saw who had saved their asses.

"Nah, that was nothing," Jiraiya said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Idiots let their guard down way too easily, it's no wonder they died so fast when they were in that invasion two years ago."

"Y-You!" an Iwa nin finally managed to sputter before he threw his weapon at Minato, who easily caught it.

"As eager as I am sure you all are to have a piece of the guy I trained to almost singlehandedly take your army out nearly twenty years ago, we gotta help save some more of you ungrateful sods," Jiraiya said as he glared at the Iwa ninja with his Sage Mode eyes.

"Now wait just one-!" the ninja did not get any further, because Jiraiya and Minato both Hiraishinned away.

….

"Good, you're here," C said as Yugito, Omoi and Karui all arrived at the sensor nin's location at once.

"Where's Raikage-Sama?" Yugito asked C.

"He's fighting against four chakra signatures as we speak, one of them a summoning, and his chakra reserves are dwindling at a slow rate. He's that way."

"Then I better go help him. Try and get as many civilians out of the village as you can!" she ordered as she leapt in the direction of A's struggle.

"That sounds like a good idea," C said.

"But wait, what if I end up trying to help a lady who is trapped in rubble or something, and I end up touching her inappropriately, and get killed before I can clear it up?" Omoi asked in a slight panic at the thought of being mistaken for a perv.

"Wow, that was one of your more realistic scenarios," Karui said before she did a double-take. "What do you think you are doing, worrying about a thing like that at a time like this, you idiot! Just do what you've gotta do to get the citizens to safety!"

C sweat dropped at their usual antics, before he sensed another chakra signature. "Get down!" he ordered as a giant centipede with Rinnegan eyes smashed its way to the area.

**(A/N: OST Midaregami plays)**

"Fire Style: Blazing Lance Jutsu!" Karui shouted as fired the jutsu from her mouth to launch at the centipede, which was able to wind its way away from the blast, and Omoi unsheathed his sword.

"How does someone summon all of these different creatures?" C asked as he leapt back, but he then sensed another two signatures coming after him from behind. He whipped around and the Human and Naraka Paths landed in front of him. He then prepared to fight, but was made to dodge another pass from the centipede, and then took a hit from Naraka Path, whose kick launched him at Human Path, who grabbed him by the back of the head. C was about to counter attack, but his body suddenly seized up on him.

"C, what's wrong with you?" Karui demanded as she noticed that the jonin was not moving.

"I see, so the Nibi will be heading right for where three other Paths are already at," Human Path said. He then proceeded to rip out C's soul.

"What did you just do!?" Omoi shouted at Human Path as Naraka made to grab him. Omoi was just barely able to avoid the hand that had gone for his neck and tried to take a retaliatory swipe at the Path, but the Path leapt back from the attack.

"I merely extracted information I wanted from him, as well as his life from his body," Human Path stated before Naraka leapt to his side. "Now, if you'll excuse us."

"Wait just one minute!" Karui demanded, but they were already leaving, and the centipede took up the attention of her and her teammate.

….

"Take **that, **ya overgrown **rat!" **B shouted as he fired a relatively low powered Bijuu Bomb at the giant dog that was homing in on his position. The ball hit the thing dead-on, but for some reason, that only caused it to split into two equal sized parts. The two dogs ran at B, and one of them managed to get a bite on his foreleg/arm. The transformed jinchuriki smashed down on both mutts, and found himself facing four next.

**"It seems that they multiply every time you get a hit on them," **Gyuki noted.

"I say **eep, **that is so **cheap!"** B replied. He then noticed two other figures approaching fast, one of them on wings made of… paper? The other one seemed to have some kind of devices on his body that propelled him through the air via chakra blasts.

The one on paper wings shot several paper shuriken at the jinchiriki and B responded by swatting away the tiny irritations with a swipe from an arm. The four dogs started to assault him from several sides at once, and he took a few bit marks, but knew better to retaliate by now.

The Asura Path fired several rockets then, all of which exploded against his Bijuu hide, and only stung him slightly. B swept several tails at his new attackers, both of whom managed to dodge the hasty assault.

"Looks like things may just be about to heat up," Derek said as he approached the battle B was fighting.

…

A panted as he glared at the three Paths of Pain before him. His chakra was now only at a third of its max at this point, and he had taken several smaller cuts as well. They did not seem even the slightest bit winded however. The drill beaked bird came down at A before a barrage of blue fire blasts that A recognized as Yugito's Mouse Hairball Jutsu flew straight at the bird.

Unfortunately, the bird saw the blasts coming and did a sort of barrel roll and changed direction, dodging all of the fireballs. "We have been expecting you," Deva Path said as Yugito landed next to A.

"Glad you could make it," A told his jinchuriki. "Let's get the Twin Edge Storm Armor ready, pronto!"

"Already Raikage-Sama?" Yugito asked in alarm.

"Yes, this chump is way too tough to fight without pulling out all the stops at this point," A said. "I need you to get the conditions right as fast as you can. You know what that means right?"

"Got it," Yugito said as she mentally reached within her mindscape to talk to her tenant. _"Nibi, we need to switch."_

**"Nice, it's been too long since I was last let out," **Matabi said as Yugito turned control over. Both Bijuu and jinchuriki in this case were on fairly good terms at this point, though not as good as B and Gyuki. While Gyuki would let B be in Bijuu Mode while having full control, Matabi always insisted that control be switched to her whenever Yugito drew her power forth. But Matabi would always give control back when they ended Bijuu Mode.

With a roar, Yugito was bathed in the blue flames that erupted around her, and Pain's eyes narrowed as he found himself facing down a Bijuu.

….

"We had better hurry up and get him back to the hideout," Kabuto said as he pushed his glasses back up. Han was currently lying prone with his armor broken in a few places, and several small wounds, including the recent bite marks from the snakes Kabuto had injected drugs into Han with. "Someone took out the Sound Four, but they never saw their attackers, so I don't know who, but it would be unwise to linger."

"Hmph, that partner of yours had better get us the other jinchuriki," Hidan said as he picked Han up. "I don't wanna be blamed for leaving before our mission was complete."

"But if we stay, we risk losing the one we had already captured after great trouble. I will summon a few more Edo Tensei before we go to assist our part- get down!"

A Hiraishin kunai flew at the back of Hidan's head and he turned around asking, "What?" There was a flash and Minato appeared with a Rasengan. Thinking fast, Kabuto wrapped his navel snake around Hidan's waist and yanked him out of the way before Minato could get Hidan in the face with the jutsu. As he did so, Minato managed to slap his hand against the head of the snake.

"Just great, we have the Yellow Flash of all people after us now," Kabuto cursed as he noted the way Minato's eyes were now pigmented. "And he has Sage Mode too-,"

Minato flashed behind Kabuto just as he was finishing with talking, using the marking he had put on the navel snake's head. The Snake Sage leapt up into the air to avoid the Rasengan Minato still had in his hand. "One chance," Minato told Kabuto and Hidan. "Leave Han here and I will let you both go in peace."

"Sorry, no can do," Hidan said. "It would be better to just sacrifice someone of your caliber to Jashin-Sama."

"Fine," Minato said as he flashed again, once again behind Kabuto. This time Kabuto had his dojutsu in its active stage, and whipped around to kick Minato in the gut. His eyes then widened as he saw that Minato had switched with a Shadow Clone and had flashed behind said clone as he felt his Miraiyochigan vision go. "But just so you know," Minato continued as Kabuto was able to jump back again to avoid the Rasengan again. "Now that I know Sage Mode, I can sense when your eyes are actively seeing the future or not," the Rasengan turned into a Rasenlance in less than a blink of an eye. Kabuto's eyes widened. "So I can time THIS properly!" He threw the Rasenlance at Kabuto, who whipped his navel snake around to grab a boulder to try to pull himself out of the way of the deadly projectile. Just as the snake made contact with the rock, Minato flashed to the snake's location again and severed the head with one of his kunai to prevent Kabuto's dodge.

But Kabuto anticipated this and had sprouted another of his white snakes from a shoulder and that one wrapped around another rock and he was just barely able to yank himself out of the path of the deadly spear. As it was, his side was nicked, and a good portion of flesh had been torn off. If it weren't for the healing factor he had replicated from Karin, that would have been a serious injury.

"Come on, give me a drop of your blood, just one!" Hidan shouted as he lashed his scythe at the blonde, who easily dodged all swings without even looking, his attention still focused on Kabuto. He could have pulled a Kakashi and read a book with the immortal, he was doing it so easily.

"Sage Art: Rasengan!" The chakra sphere in Minato's hand blasted Hidan in the chest, doing even more damage to the immortal's already beaten torso and almost bisecting him.

Kabuto quickly weighed his options as he watched a screaming Hidan go flying from the Sage Mode Rasengan. He knew that Minato was exceedingly good at sealing arts, so he would potentially lose most, if not all Edo Tensei he could send at the blonde, and he was not too sure of his own chances. In fact, he only had one he knew of that was almost sure to win if he had correctly calculated the subject's power. Of course, that was something he only planned to use in an absolute emergency, but he decided that a Minato, who was arguably on the same level as Hashirama before, and now knew Sage Mode, pretty much qualified as an emergency. Besides, his priority was capturing the Bijuu, he could not get caught up fighting a kage, nor could he risk a contract seal being put on him.

"It seems I really do have little choice about this," Kabuto said as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. "I will just have to use my special reserve, though I doubt Tobi will be happy about me using him." With that, he clapped his hands together, and said, "Summoning Jutsu: Edo Tensei!"

A coffin sprang from the ground and Minato prepared to face his latest foe. The coffin door was blasted at him from within it, and Minato jumped over the door to avoid the hit. He then watched as a gloved hand gripped the edge of the coffin and a man wearing brown metal plate armor and with long spiky black hair stepped from the confines.

"It's about time you have groomed that Nagato brat," the man said. Minato stared at the revived figure, recognizing his features from the statue he had seen a few times at the Valley of the End.

"You're…," Minato said in shock.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: Review responses again. Not that there are many to respond to. **

**imugly:**

**needs more suigestu but that will never happen :'(**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Don't worry, Suigetsu will be around more later, do you really think I would give him Hidan's scythe and forget about him? Ha! That is one of the series coolest weapons and it had totally gone to waste before. **

**Titokhan:**

**Well, sending the yellow flash to Iwa to save them will definitely be an interesting turn of events.**

Ouch, even I felt that. poor Haku. Akari may be drained, but the Matsuri/Daisuke winner will likely be just as drained (as it will likely be just as entertaining. I cant see Matsuri's mirages affecting Daisuke. but I cant see Daisuke spamming fireballs at a decent wind user either)

Dauri, as expected, held his own against the best 1-2 punch combo of the paths.

*leaves a bag of Lay's BBQ air pops next to a certain angry akamichi*

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**The final match will be short indeed, and the attack on Suna will begin next chapter. Good thing Naruto is prepared then!**

**Jove99:**

**You are my favorite fanfiction writer of all time! Keep up the good work**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Wow, that is a greatly appreciated comment. Nice to know that I am at least a little popular.**

**thecreatorofpolides:**

**another great chapter and i was wondering if sasuke does infact know edo tensei sincehe got his memories back and if so will he ever use it**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Hell no! It was Orochimaru who used the jutsu to bring back the kage, and I don't want to give Sasuke that jutsu, it's one of the most broken in the series. **

**Redsox31:**

**Very good fight between Akari and Haku. I thought for sure Haku was gonna win. And I can't wait to see how Iwa reacts to the Yellow Flash showing up to help them fight the Akatsuki.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I had thought about having Haku win myself, but Akari is a lot like her unpredictable brother, so she would not have lost too easily. Plus, there was another piece of advice I wanted to take **

**falcoknights: **

**it was a very nice ending to Akari and Haku's fight. im looking forward to the conclusion of A's fight. how will he get out of his mess? Will he be able to handle himself vs his foe without help? Oh and we can not forget IWA being rescued by two of its worst enemies in the past (the look on their faces when they get helped should be priceless. Also with them both being in sage mode should be fun to see. keep up the good work.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, it was fun to write about Iwa's initial reactions. **

**You know, I read the latest chapters of the manga, and upon learning that the Juubi jinchuriki was vulnerable to natural energy attacks, it makes me glad that I had Sasuke keep his curse mark this time around, because that opens up some possibilities. I still have not decided on whether I want to make Raizen or Obito the jinchuriki in this story or if I want them to be beaten along with the Juubi before then. There will be no poll on this, I want it to be my decision alone, though I will listen to advice in reviews. We'll see how the story flows. **

**I also wanted to bring up a really fun idea that may occur later in canon. I would be willing to bet that Naruto will go into Bijuu Mode, and Sasuke will increase the power with his Susanoo in a great collaboration technique, just like Madara had done with Kurama during that fight with Hashirama. I so plan on doing that in this story later. **

**Please Read and Review!**


	64. Chapter 63: Twin Edge Storm Armor

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this posted, had a busy schedule,a nd I wanted to make this chapter long. Of course, it did not help my motivation to write this when there was an initial lack of reviews. I could have gotten this chapter out a bit ago, but I didn't, because I did not spend much free time in the library writing it. Instead, I spent time reading a few other fics, because I was not motivated to write nonstop for a few hours with only four reviews for the chapter at first! It takes all of two minutes to review, and yet takes me hours to write a chapter, so it should not be too much trouble for you guys to write a review for me. Come on, throw the guy who works hard for you all a bone! (Pant, pant)**

**Now that I am done venting, please enjoy this chapter! **

**Chapter 63: Twin Edge Storm Armor**

**(A/N: OST Yogensha plays)**

"Madara Uchiha," Minato said. "Who would have thought that you of all people would have been brought back by Edo Tensei."

"Edo Tensei?" Madara asked as he looked at his hands. "This isn't the Samsara of Heavenly Life?"

"No it isn't. In fact, I am the one who revived you," Kabuto stated as he stood next to Madara. "Using one of the Nidaime Hokage's jutsu. Speaking of which, that person there is a master of the Nidaime's Hiraishin Jutsu. In fact, I think he's better at it than the Nidaime. He is the Yondaime Hokage."

"I could care less about him at the moment. Just who are you to revive me with this jutsu?"Madara demanded.

"I am known as Kabuto Yakuhishi, and I am an ally of that underling of yours, the one who uses your name, though he also uses the name Tobi. Of course, we still need to gather the jinchuriki for the plan you two have developed to work. We only have a single Bijuu in our possession, as well as some chakra we were able to absorb from another, and the nations are already putting up heavy resistance against letting us get the rest. In fact, we are here in Iwagakure to capture two of them, but as you see, we have a kage level shinobi hindering us. In fact, there has been speculation that he is the strongest of all the Hokage, possibly including Hashirama."

"Humph, I'll believe it when I see it," Madara said, his Sharingan activating as he did.

"Don't worry about it, he is very strong, I have no doubt that he will prove to be a worthy opponent, even with the adjustments I made to your body."

"I noticed. I happen to be in my prime now instead of the state I had been in when I had died."

"Ah, but you should be better than you were in your prime, even considering the fact that your body is superior in many ways to a living body."

"Do you really think you know what I was like in my prime?" Madara asked.

"No, not really, but I had hoped you would indulge me with a demonstration," Kabuto admitted.

Madara narrowed his eyes and said, "Very well, I shall show you my power."

Minato gulped, but also shivered in anticipation as he watched Madara step slowly towards him.

….

Blue flames burned at the ground and the buildings in the area A and Yugito were fighting Pain. A rushed the Preta Path from behind and deactivated his lightning armor to avoid giving him free chakra. "ShinraTensei," Deva Path said for what felt like the thousandth time. A was knocked back from the repulsion technique, and the Drill Beaked Bird laid more eggs at the place A would end up, before dodging several bursts of blue flames from Matatabi, who then fired one at Deva Path, aiming to take him out before his power returned.

**(A/N: End OST)**

A restored his lightning armor and was able to withstand the explosions that came from the bird's eggs though he ended up slightly bruised. Meanwhile, the Animal Path had come between Deva and Matatabi and summoned the giant crab to take the flames on its shell. A growled as eh got back to his feet. _"Darn it, I only have about a fifth of my reserves left, and we are making very little progress against this chump. If it doesn't start raining soon…" _His prayers were answered when a drop of water landed on his head. He looked up and saw the storm clouds above them, gathered as a result of the heated atmosphere.

**(A/N: OST Reverse Situation plays)**

"Heh heh…" A chuckled, causing Pain to glance at him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh? Is something amusing about your current situation?" he asked the Raikage.

"Yeah, just that you chumps are going to get a real taste of my powers as Raikage!" A declared as a thin layer of lightning chakra coated his body. There was a flash of lightning above, and Pain glanced at the sky, noting that it had become charged with great levels of electrical energy.

"What's this?" Deva Path asked interestedly.

"This whole battle ever since Yugito arrived and turned into the Nibi, we have been launching several balls of its fire into the sky to heat up the temperature and gather storm clouds," A boasted. "That bird brained beast you summoned actually worked against you there, it gave the Nibi an excuse to fire its attacks up without hinting what we were up to. Now I can kick your sorry asses out of my village!"

"And just how do you intend to use that energy?" Deva Path asked.

A decided to let his actions answer for him by activating his jutsu. "Forbidden Lightning Style: Twin Edge Storm Armor!" A shouted, and several bolts of natural lightning blasted down from the sky and struck the Raikage. "Hrrrrgggghhhhh!" A growled as he struggled to control all the power flowing through him. No matter how many times he practiced this, it never seemed to get any easier. Pretty much everyone else who would think to try this would be fried instantly, it was only thanks to the durability of A's body that he could withstand it for five minutes.

"He's drawing the lightning into his own body to use for his lightning armor," Deva Path realized as there was an explosion at A's position and when the dust cleared, A was shown to have a lightning cloak that was almost pure white, with only a hint of the blue that was shown in his usual lightning chakra. **(A/N: This was done at Tensa-Zangetsu102's suggestion, all credit for the jutsu idea goes to him, though I claim credit for the jutsu name) **The cloak also extended three times the distance away from A as the original cloak, and several uncontrolled bolts of lightning were constantly lashing out and blasting at either the ground or crackling at the air. As a result of channeling this energy, veins were bulging out on almost every inch of his arms and his blood flowed freely from his mouth, eyes and nose. "Seems the jutsu is rather risky to use as well."

**"But the benefits can outweigh the risks as you will soon see," **Matatabi said. As she said that, A disappeared briefly and materialized behind Deva Path.

_"He's gotten faster!" _Pain thought frantically as he leapt forward to avoid the attack A launched at him. A bolt of lightning branched out and impaled Deva through the leg. Deva Path grunted and extended his hand as A charged. "Shinra Tensei!"

There was a small sonic boom as the repulsive force briefly stopped A and they both strained for a moment before Pain found himself flying back. _"He countered my jutsu and threw me back with greater force!" _Pain thought as he was thrown back. A followed after his opponent, and was hindered by Preta Path, who got between him and Deva and activated his Chakra Absorption Barrier. A's new jutsu impacted the barrier, but rather than get absorbed, the cloak blasted the barrier away, and A sped right on by Preta, only he extended his arm to the side and bisected the Path as he did so.

**"Looks like the ability to absorb chakra does not work on natural lightning," **Matatabi mused as a caught up with Deva Path and swung a kick at him. Pain tried to block with a chakra rod, but A's kick easily broke through the rod and took off Deva's left arm. Deva Path was sent spinning into the side of a building and blasted through the wall. Deva recovered fast and used his Shinra Tensei on several pieces of rubble with his remaining hand, sending the rock and several pieces from the ground at A, but the Raikage was not even fazed as each boulder was torn apart by the bolts of lightning from the armor, and he rushed Deva again.

Deva would have been decapitated by the attack if Animal Path had not summoned him to his location, causing A to just whizz by where Deva had just been. The Drill Beaked Bird went down to attack A from above, laying eggs at A as it went, but A easily withstood the egg bombs this time and leapt up at the bird, and blasted it through the head with a punch that a beam of lightning extended from.

"He's like a human storm," Pain muttered. A landed, but sank to his knee, panting from having the Storm Armor up for less than a minute. He then realized that five minutes was at his limit if he was at the top of his game. He never tried this when he had been partially exhausted. He coughed and blood flew out of his mouth.

"Damn…" A cursed. How could he have been so stupid when he developed this jutsu? If he had thought to test his limits in an exhausted state, he would have known to have conserved his chakra during the fight while waiting on Yugito. He had to end it within another minute, before he gave out. He got back to his feet and charged Pain again, the animal Path hastily retreating when he realized that he was A's target. _"If I have to take out one of these chumps, it has to be the one who summoned all the beasts over the village, that will get rid of them and end the worst of this attack!" _

The crab came between A and Pain's Animal Path, trying to slow the Raikage's charge. Meanwhile, Matatabi went in to attack Deva Path. Deva used his Shinra Tensei again, and blasted Matatabi back, but she recovered fast, and sent several more fireballs at Pain, who was forced to avoid them with some very fancy footwork. A smashed easily through the crab's shell, and impaled Animal Path through the chest on one of his arms. The Path went limp instantly, and his summons all over the village disappeared. A flung his corpse off of his arm and went to attack Deva, who threw another Shinra Tensei at him, once again, only succeeding in causing himself to get flung back when A overpowered it, though this gave him some distance from the raging storm.

A winced as he realized he was only good for a few more seconds. He dashed after the backwards flying Rinnegan bearer, and at the last possible instant, he thrust his arm forward, though still short of the mark. That was until a blast of natural lightning shot from A's arm and impaled Deva Path. Pain's eyes widened before he was blasted through a pile of rubble, broken.

A's Storm Armor receded and he collapsed, sweating profusely. "Raikage-Sama!" Yugito shouted as she returned to human form and started casting the basic medical ninjutsu on the Raikage. Basis was unfortunately all she knew how to do in that field, because her tenant hindered her chakra control a bit, but since it was the second weakest Bijuu in terms of raw chakra, some medical jutsu was still possible for the jinchuriki.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Never tried that with low chakra," A admitted. "But at least we got the chumps, right?"

"Yeah, we did."

Yugito was just finishing with doing all that she could for A when a voice asked, "Did you now?" Then Human Path tried to attack A from behind, but the Raikage was still able to dodge on reflex, but as he did so, the Preta Path appeared from behind Yugito, and trapped her in a Full Nelson. Her eyes widened as she struggled, but soon, she fell limp as the Path absorbed all of her chakra.

"I thought I took care of you!" A shouted as Preta Path stabbed a chakra rod into the unconscious Yugito.

…..

At the nearby base of Nagato's operations, the Rinnegan bearer cast the Summoning Jutsu. As long as his intended target was either unconscious or willing with a chakra receiver in them, he could summon them with the Animal Path. Sure enough, Yugito appeared in a burst of smoke. Zetsu appeared from the ground and said, "Looks like we have our next Jinchuriki."

"Take her to another hideout to await extraction," Nagato ordered.

…..

**(A/N: OST Survival Examination Plays)**

"Well, isn't this a surprise," Derek mused as he looked in the direction of where Killer B was fighting against Asura Path and Konan. Atsui and Samui had shown up to try to hinder him, but he had held them off with his two scimitars. The slit on his eye had opened to reveal that he was a bearer of the Tamashi Kensaku Me, the same third eye that Ceilia and Isaac possessed. Unlike them however, he was showing no signs of fatigue for using it. He had shed his cloak and his bare torso had seals written all over it.

What he had commented on was that the numerous dogs that had surrounded the transformed jinchuriki disappeared, signaling the defeat of Pain's Animal Path. Now the battered jinchuriki was able to focus on trying to smash Konan and Asura Path. Konan was spamming exploding tags on B's tails, and Asura Path was firing rockets and several spinning saw blades at B, but all attacks really seemed to do little more than annoy him.

"Cloud Style: Flame Beheading!" Atsui shouted and sent an arc of flames at Derek, who activated one of the seals on his chest, and it sucked the flames into it.

"I am tired of showing you again and again that that won't work on me," Derek said as he deflected an attempt from Samui to take his head off from behind. He then swung behind himself and managed to cut her wrist a little.

Atsui then tried to close in and swung at Derek, who moved to block, but Atsui's attack turned out to be a feint. He instead stabbed forward at the last instant, but Derek's third eye caught the twitches in the Kumo nin's muscles and gave him an idea of what Atsui planned, and he backhanded Atsui in the face to knock him away. Samui landed next to her brother, who was panting.

"Our best kenjutsu maneuvers keep on getting countered like they are nothing!" Samui cursed. "It's embarrassing!"

"And my own hot blooded abilities are useless except as flashy distractions," Atsui agreed.

"It's that weird eye of his, somehow it is able to see our every twitch, and he can tell what we are going to do next. It's almost like the Sharingan of the Hidden Leaf Village."

"All eyes are useless if they are blind!" Atsui said, and he immediately cast his fire jutsu again. Understanding her brother's intent immediately, Samui launched a water jutsu, which was evaporated by Atsui's jutsu, and created a thick steam.

"Not a bad idea," Derek said. "But," he threw one of his blades to his side, and it went in a trajectory of a spinning projectile, and there was a clang as one of his opponents was forced to deflect the weapon. He then used his now free hand to grab at something in the steam before stabbing forward with his remaining weapon. The steam cleared and revealed that he had a grip on Atsui's neck and had impaled him through the heart. "Even the slightest distortions in the steam can be read by this eye, and tell me where you are."

"Atsui!" Samui shouted in despair as she saw the life leave her brother's eyes.

"Relax. You shall join him soon," Derek said as he swung his blade to throw Atsui's corpse off of the weapon.

Meanwhile, B had Asura and Konan on the ropes. The paper wielding kunoichi was running low on chakra, and Asura was B's main target now. Asura managed to get behind B and his head opened up and gathered chakra for his Asura attack, which was a seriously powerful beam of chakra. The blast fired off and severed five of B's tails, causing the jinchuriki to roar in rage and smash Pain with one of his hands. Konan meanwhile chose to prudently withdraw, B on her tail.

"Oh, it seems that we won't be leaving empty handed after all," Derek said as he unsealed five golems twice the size of a large man from a seal on the back of one of his hands. He also unsealed a large jar half his height and made of obsidian.

"What are you trying to pull?" Samui demanded as she launched another water style jutsu at her brother's killer. Derek casually avoided the jutsu before he slapped Animation Seals on the prone golems.

"Sorry, I would love to continue our one-sided battle, but I have more important business to attend to," Derek said as he directed his now active construct to attack Samui. He then leapt at the place the tails had fallen after Asura's attack. He removed the lid from the obsidian jar and cast several signs. The five tails distorted and moved into the jar, which he then sealed. Derek chortled. "With five of the Hachibi's tails, we are now closer to the goal of the Juubi's rebirth. He then left the area, running to keep from being captured with his prize.

…..

"Begin!" Gaara shouted as the final match of Suna's chunin exams started. Akari and Daisuke gazed at each other before they rushed at one another Akari wielding a wooden staff and Daisuke brandishing his two katana. They traded several blows before Daisuke leapt back, running through signs.

"Fire Sty-," he was forced to stop when Akari threw her staff like a spear at him, and he had to use his weapons to deflect the attack. He landed as she grew another staff from her body, and they charged again. Of course, fate had a serious sense of humor in that moment. Because Daisuke stepped in a puddle that was a result of Haku's handiwork, once said handiwork had melted, and he slipped, falling inside the reach of Akari's staff, and his face smashed right into hers, causing their lips to meet by sheer accident **(A/N: Taking a piece of advice from a guest reviewer)**.

The crowd was stunned into silence as both combatants broke apart, both blushing furiously at what had just happened. The worst part was, it had been done in front of so many people that simply agreeing to never speak of the incident again would be impossible.

"I will kill him!" both Naruto and Kushina shouted in a blind rage as they both tried to leap into the arena, Naruto only barely held back by a frantic Hinata, and Kushina requiring the combined efforts of Itachi and the Kazekage's Gold Dust to restrain her.

"Well, that's what he gets for forgetting that while you should never take your eyes off of your opponent, that you should also pay attention to your surroundings," Sasuke laughed. He did have to feel a little bad for his student though. He remembered the unspeakable horror of that day when he… he shuddered as he desperately tried to avoid thinking of the day he and Naruto had had that incident.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke and wondered why she suddenly felt like breaking something over something that was on his mind.

Daisuke was pale as a sheet as he realized what he would have to face once the match was over, and Akari was a little frustrated that her first kiss had been stolen by a fluke. The crowd was now just laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

"What do you say we just make this a one jutsu with all of our remaining chakra, winner take all final part of the match so we can hide our faces sooner?" Daisuke asked in embarrassment.

"Agreed," Akari replied as she formed the Rasengan.

Daisuke cast his hand signs and shouted, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The inferno blasted at Akari, who plunged forward with the Rasengan, which parted the flames to keep the Namikaze from getting burns that were too serious as she went. No one seemed to notice a cloaked figure in the crowd rise and prepare a few signs discreetly. No one but Naruto and Hinata, who tensed.

"You ready Hinata?" Narto asked, and she gave a nervous nod.

Akari's Rasengan died at the same moment Daisuke ran out of chakra, and they both stood inches from each other, Daisuke ready to stab Akari with both katana, and Akari holding a kunai to Daisuke's throat.

"The match is a draw by mutual strike!" Gaara declared. And that's when all hell broke loose.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

Minato and Madara rushed each other, Minato thanking all that was holy for all the sparring sessions he had had with Kakashi, for he knew how to fight Madara by only watching his footwork, and common sense said that eye contact with an Uchiha was only a good idea if you were suicidal.

**(A/N: OST Lightning Speed plays)**

Minato threw a Hiraishin kunai at the reaninmated Madara, and the Uchiha simply dodged before he noticed the seal formula on the kunai. That was when Minato flashed at the kunai's location with a Rasengan in hand, and tried to strike Madara. Almost contemptuously, Madara grabbed the Sage's wrist and flung him away before casting several hand signs. "Fire Stye: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Several large blasts of fire emerged from Madara's mouth, and Minato used Hirashin again, this time flashing to the ground where he stood before the fight had begun.

Meanwhile, Kabuto shed his skin to turn into a snake and swallowed Han whole before he started to make his getaway. "Hold on!" Minato shouted as he tried to flash to the tag he had put on Orochimaru's former apprentice, but only ended up at the shed skin. "Shit!" the Namikaze cursed as he threw a kunai at the serpent, only for it to be deflected by Madara.

"Your fight is with me," Madara said with his eyes narrowed. "I am curious to see if you truly are on Hashirama's level."

"Fine, but I hope you don't mind if I make this fight quick," Minato said as he flashed to the kunai Madara had deflected earlier and rushed the Uchiha from the side. "Sage Art: Giant Rasengan!" Minato shouted as he slammed the jutsu into his opponent, only to meet to bones of Madara's Susanoo. Of course, with the Rasengan being powered by Sage Mode, the ribs started to crack, and Madara was forced to leap back. His complete Susanoo formed and its blades swung several times at Minato, and he leapt back to avoid them and then felt a heat gather where he was before he Hiraishinned away again, and not a moment too soon, because the black flames of the Amaterasu appeared where he had just stood.

"Very nice reflexes," Madara noted. "You use Tobirama's jutsu to good effect, even going so far as to brand your own weapons with the markings, whereas, Tobirama would merely mark his surroundings in a fight. He lacked a certain creativity it seems you have.

"And that jutsu, the Rasengan was it? You can form it on a moment's notice and it is clearly powerful. It reminds me of a Bijuu Bomb in some ways. If it weren't for that Sage Mode that you are using, I would say that speed is your preferred element in combat."

"It is," Minato said as he formed the cross seal and made a Shadow Clone, before both he and the clone began forming a Rasenlance with a fire element added, causing the jutsu to have flames burning on it. "I can store Sage Energy within a seal on my body, so I don't ever have to slow down to gather the required chakra."

"Interesting…"

"Fire and Lightning Style: Blazing Rasenlance!" Minato shouted… then he threw the jutsu in entirely the wrong direction, at the skin Kabuto had shed. Madara raised his eyebrows in confusion before Minato's clone flashed behind Madara inside the Susanoo. Madara then looked at one of his hands and spotted a tag put there. He realized that this had happened when Minato's first Rasengan had been stopped by the Uchiha grabbing his wrist.

_"He put a tag on me without my noticing!"_ Madara thought with an impressed look on his face as Mianto's clone grabbed him from behind._ "Not even Tobirama was capable of that!"_

"I have you now!" Minato shouted as the clone flashed to the skin Kabuto had shed, taking Madara out of the Susanoo with him and into the path of the Blazing Rasenlance. Madara's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan eyes widened, before they seemed to turn to a dull purple color with several concentric rings.

…

A panted as he stood face to face with all six Paths of Pain. Earlier, Animal Path had summoned the remains of Asura Path after Naraka Path had restored him, and all Paths were now fixed and battle ready once more. Asura grabbed Animal and threw him outside of the village. "What are you up to now?" A demanded as he struggled to his feet and formed his lightning cloak.

"We have a good portion of what we came her for, but now it is time to resort to drastic measures if we are to subdue the Hachibi," Deva Path stated as he used Shinra Tensei to throw A back. "You are no longer even worth my time. The other four Paths disappeared, and Deva began to float in the air.

…..

In a valley outside of the Cloud Village, Animal Path summoned all the other Paths but Deva. Konan and Derek also appeared.

"Get going," Pain ordered Derek and the man bowed before using the Dimension Door Jutsu to leave.

"Nagato, tell me you aren't going to-," Konan said with a hint of fear in her voice, before the five Paths dropped to the ground.

…

The arena in Suna was in an uproar as over five hundred of Caius's corpses appeared to begin attempting to slaughter the civilians and noble figures in the stands. But Naruto got up and formed over a thousand Shadow Clones, and they grabbed random people and flashed them to safe locations Naruto had prepared. He himself confronted a large group of about fifty of the beasts and made four more arms on his body using the Asura Path, with chakra boosters on his elbows. A Rasengan formed in all six of Naruto's hands and he launched himself at the creatures.

"Asura Path: Propelled Rasengan Barrage!" Naruto shouted as he blasted his way through thirty of them at once, ripping them to shreds as he went. He went behind the rest of them and Hinata took her bow out of a seal Naruto had helped her with and fired explosive arrows in quick succession at the remainder. Naruto spotted Sasuke jump into an area thick with the creatures and use Amaterasu to burn most of them up, flame retardant chemicals be damned. Gaara took a stand next to Akari and Daisuke and crushed all of the creatures who came near with his sand.

Akari and Daisuke looked around in shock as the proceedings occurred all around them. "What?" Akari asked as Naruto jumped in front of her and beckoned one of his clones over. "What's going on?"

"No time to explain!" Naruto said as he summoned Zenko. "Keep an eye on her for me, would ya?" Naruto asked the fox.

"Gotcha!" Zenko said as he jumped on the shoulders of Naruto's clone and said clone put his hands on Akari and Daisuke's shoulders and flashed away.

Naruto glared up at the cloaked figure that had summoned all of the corpses to the battlefield, and noticed him summon about twenty coffins of Edo Tensei. He then glanced upwards and spotted Diedara on one of his giant clay birds. Naruto smirked as he remembered why the bomber had given him so much trouble before. "I'm not restricted to close combat anymore," Naruto said as his arm turned into some kind of cannon with a few hollow metal fist sized balls inside. Inside one of the balls, he formed a Rasengan, and he channeled chakra into the cannon, causing it to charge magnetically.

He then used the magnetic power to launch the metal ball at Deidara's bird at very high speed and velocity. Basically, this weapon was a rail gun that fired shells filled with a Rasengan. The ball crumbled and the Rasengan blasted right through the bird, and came out fight in front of Deidara before it went into the air, startling the bomber shitless.

Naruto then paused as one of his lines of vision showed him a view of Kumo, and a lone figure starting to float above it. "Finally, stupid bad weather made it take long enough to get that kunai there," he muttered as he made a Shadow Clone, putting more chakra than usual in it to make it as durable as possible. "Keep things from getting out of hand here," Naruto ordered the clone. "I thought about sending a Shadow Clone, but need to get Nagato back on the right track personally."

"Got it," the clone replied.

….

"This village will soon know Pain," Deva Path stated as he floated above the village of Kumo. "Now… SHINRA TENS-!" He paused in his jutsu as his gaze shifted in the direction of a bird's screech. A falcon with Rinnegan eyes disappeared in a burst of smoke as it launched the Hiraishin kunai at Pain. There was a flash as Naruto appeared, falling towards Pain, his fist drawn back to hit the Deva Path.

**(A/N: End OST)**

Pain narrowed his eyes and changed the level of power he was going to put in his jutsu to a much lower setting and aimed it at the incoming jinchuriki. What he was not expecting was for Naruto to do the same and extend his unclenched hand to Pain as his blue eyes changed into the Rinnegan. "ShinraTensei!" they both shouted and the equal forces collided and canceled each other out.

Pain's eyes widened before Naruto's fist collided with his cheek and they both plummeted to the ground.

**A/N: Responding to reviews again. **

**AnisoulJ93:**

**I can swear the chapters are shorter now than when you started. But either way great story! I especially liked reading the pranks from Akari and Konohamru. I'm writing a Naruto/Bleach crossover with a Naruto who specializes in Pranks, so it's always good to read other people's ideas so i can have a little inspiration for my own.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Make sure you give me some credit if you use my ideas please! And that story may well be worth looking into at some point. As for my chapter length, they will get longer from here on out. By chapter 80, I hope to have an average amount of 5000 words per chapter. **

**cook563:**

**Well damn this isn't good at all, I just hope Minato can get out of this alive. This fight will definitely be worth reading and will be worth the wait. Keep up the great work I'm looking forward to what you are planning on doing. I just hope that Minato finds a way to deal with Kabuto and sealing those eyes away along with sealing up Hidan, because i think everyone would love to see that. Will Naruto somehow find a way to not only help Kumo but also once the previous task is dealt with?**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Naruto may well have a clone or two show up in Iwa, but he is devoted to Suna and Kumo right now.**

**Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros:**

**Please update this as soon as possible! I can already tell that quite a few people are annoyed with not seeing Naruto fight yet and this big cliff hanger at the end will bug a few people. Other than that it was good.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, bet they are annoyed. Maybe that's why they did not review this chapter much, they were trying to annoy me back, lol. Take the high road next time people!**

**Titokhan:**

**Poor C, lets hope that when Naruto gets there soon, and after he wipes the floor with all 6 paths that Nagato has the decency to revive a few people. C was a nice guy. but decent scale rinne tensei can kill Nagato tho, I guess poor C may stay dead**

raw pwnage by Minato and Jirayia in sage mode until.. oh snap, Kabuchimaru popping his 'trump card' already? so NOT good

*leaves Chouji a bag of non-expired cheddar BBQ Doritos* Be nice to author-san, I didn't want you to eat my bag of sweet and spicy BBQ sun chips that time. I'll get you a bag next time, k?

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**(Gets released by Choji, who was holding me in choke hold) Don't worry, Naruto should be able to get through to Nagato again, and Nagato shouldn't have as many opportunities to expend chakra, and even if he does, Naruto can share some of Kurama's with him. And you remembered what Gyuki's did for Edo Nagato right? **

**I hope you are being entertained by Minato's battle with Madara. **

**falcoknights:**

**keep up the good work.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Is that all you have to say? No comment on Madara returning already? That's a little disappointing.**

**Redsox31:**

**Even though she had a couple of really good wins already, Matsuri using a one shot only strategy, that she knew was unlikely to succeed, has really got to hurt her chances for chunin.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**She did not have much chance otherwise, and sometimes in the shinobi world, you have to take risky gambles to beat your opponent, even if they are unattractive. They will take that into account. **

**mellra:**

**Great job! I'm betting Hidan's gonna feel that in the morning! Also, Madara has made an early appearance! Not that it'll change much since Naruto probably found a way to inform the Kage's who the real mastermind is already but it still could be a game changer, especially with Nagato still alive at this point. I also wonder if Naruto will show up in Kumo to help or if his attention will be focused on Suna? Can't wait for the next chapter and keep on being awsome!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You say to keep being awesome as if I could be anything else :P. Madara will have a big impact on this story. As you see, Naruto went personally to fight Pain.**

**Please review, and maybe next chapter will make it out sooner! This is not a threat, just a statement that I am more willing to work when I see reactions to said work. So please Review!**


	65. Chapter 64: Against the Rinnegan

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N:Wow, I got a whole lot of reviews for last chapter! I have my eyes on 900 reviews now, then I will only need 100 more before the time my goal has been reached. Not bad for my first story, eh?**

**Let's see how the battles go. I have some interesting matchups in mind, one of which my surprise you almost as much as Madaravs Minato!**

**Chapter 64: Against the Rinnegan**

**(A/N: OST Yogensha plays)**

"An impressive amount of power was in that jutsu," Madara said, smoking slightly, having just absorbed the Blazing Rasenlance with Preta Path. The clone Minato had holding him was also absorbed into said ability.

"What the-?" Minato asked in shock. "Your eyes… what did they change into? And what di you do to neutralize my jutsu?"

"Interesting… how do I have an ability that I should not have had until near the end of my lifespan?" Madara questioned before a mummy wrapped figure came down from the sky to land next to Madara.

"Even with this body's stealth skills, it sure was not easy giving the geezer and his granddaughter the slip," Kabuto said through Mu's body.

"Speaking through an Edo Tensei link? Morbid aren't we?" Madara asked.

"I built that power into your younger version. That proves my theory that the Rinnegan is a result of the power of the Senju and the Uchiha combined. You did acquire Hashirama's cells in the Valley of the End then?"

"How… did you find a way to decipher the Sage's Tablet?!"

"No, as I said, this is merely a theory I had based off of years of research conducted by Orochimaru-Sama."

Madara paused before he looked under his shirt curiously. "I see. What else are you aware of?"

"Not much. The one who you have using your name is working on some of the particulars of your plan, but I am not certain if he intends to follow through your plan exactly. And then there is a certain man named RaizenGenshukuayatsuri who is complicating things a bit. I am uncertain of just who he is, but he clearly terrifies Tobi to a point where he has enlisted my aid to try to get one up on the man."

Madara narrowed his eyes, wondering just who this Raizen was. "It seems that I have a lot of work that I need to do. But let me test my new capabilities." He cast a few signs and shouted, "Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"

A whole forest worth of trees ripped their way out of the ground and began moving at Minato, who pushed aside his surprise at Madara using Wood Style and quickly took a defensive stance before he attempted to Hiraishin at Madara, but then realized that the Uchiha had gotten rid of the sealing formula he had put on him earlier with whatever jutsu allowed him to absorb the Blazing Rasenlance. Minato hastily changed tactics by flashing to different areas of the battlefield, and throwing his kunai to avoid all the branches.

Madara merely seemed amused as he cast some more hand seals. "Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"

The whole forest was set ablaze at once, and Minato was forced to flash to a different location outside of the forest Madara had made before he got fried alive. Madara was very quick in forming his Susanoo and using it to throw several of the YasakaMagatama beads at the blonde, who hastily flashed away again and formed a Rasenlance to throw at the Susanoo. The Rasenlance blasted right into the chest of the defense, and the Susanoo cracked slightly before it shattered. Madara had an expression of surprise on his face as the attack penetrated his defense and impaled the undead Uchiha.

Minato then paused as he sensed something was not right. "Come out Madara," the Namikaze stated as he ignored the regenerating Uchiha. "I know that is a Wood Clone and that you are waiting for me to try to seal it. Sage Mode lets me sense chakra."

"Hmph, I had expected you to have used it up by now," Madara stated as he emerged from the ground and glared at the Hokage. "It seems that you weren't lying about having stored up Sage Chakra in a seal. You must have some talent with fuinjutsu to have done such a feat. The only ones I have seen with more impressive sealing arts are of the Uzumaki clan."

"What I want to know is how you can use Wood Style," Minato said as Kabuto hovered in the air in Mu's body to continue observing, knowing better than to interfere with such a battle.

"That is something you will have to find out the hard way if you can," Madara said as he charged Minato, leading to a brief but brutal taijutsu bout between the two.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

Konan gave a small start as the five Paths that had collapsed not a moment ago rose to their feet. "Nagato, what happened? Did you rethink destroying Kumogakure with that jutsu?"

"I was interrupted," Animal Path said. "By none other than the Kyuubi'sjincuriki. And the reports were correct about him possessing the Rinnegan."

Konan's eyes widened and she asked, "What are you going to do?"

Asura Path grabbed Animal Path before Animal responded, "I will capture him before he becomes too great a threat. Return to my side at once, this is too dangerous of a battle for you."

"As you wish," Konan replied as Asura threw Animal Path back into the village.

…

**(A/N: OST Narukami plays)**

There was a crash as Deva Path and Naruto hit the ground. The stone hit cracked as Naruto's fist forced Deva Path's head to strike the rock hard, causing the scratched Ame headband to fly loose. Deva Path knocked Naruto off of him and dashed back to his feet, his head bleeding slightly. Animal Path landed next to him and used the Summoning Jutsu to call forth all the other Paths.

Naruto landed gracefully and stood facing the Pains with his arms crossed. Deva took the lead position of the Pains as Asura Path fired the Asura attack. Naruto merely extended his hands and said, "Shinra Tensei," causing the beam of chakra to disperse. Deva extended a hand and used Bansho Tenin to try to pull Naruto to him for a blow from his chakra rod. Naruto however stood in place despite the effort, due to the chakra he was channeling at his feet and the chakra chains he had burrow into the ground to further anchor him.

Animal Path slapped his hand on the ground and shouted, "Summoning Jutsu!" The giant ox and the dog appeared and charged Naruto.

"Summoning Jusu!" Naruto responded and a mastodon the same size as the ox summons appeared and met the ox's charge with its own charge. The dog made to bear down on Naruto, but the blonde also summoned his hydra with dark grey scales and three heads. The dog was able to clamp its jaws down on two of the hydra's necks and bite the heads off. Then the dog gave a yelp and pulled back as its head was being ate away at by the acid, its duplication power useless against an ability that did not require an impact of some sort to do damage. Meanwhile the mastadon had stopped the ox's charge with its own and was now strangling the ox with its trunk.

"What manner of creature is that?" Pain asked as he interestedly viewed two heads growing from each of the stumps of the hydra's necks, resulting in a five headed opponent at this point.

**"Are you certain that you do not wish for my aid in this battle Naruto?" **Kurama asked the blonde from within him.

_"Yeah, I want to test some of my mastery of the Rinnegan against his, so no Bijuu Mode for this, unless I start to get my ass kicked. Keep some chakra handy to assist my clone in Suna instead."_

**"Just be careful. After using all of those Shadow Clones at the arena, you only have a quarter of your usual chakra levels. Even you may have problems facing Pain after pulling that stunt."**

_"Don't worry, I don't intend to lose to Nagato," _Naruto thought as he gazed hard at Deva Path, his Rinnegan eyes changing to have the innermost ring yellow with the pupil being a block as he entered Sage Mode.

"You are an irritating little runt," Deva said as he avoided the fangs of three of the hydra's heads before flinging the creature back with ShinraTensei. Asura and Human ran at Naruto, who drew his new blade, one he had made with the Creation of All things jutsu. It was a ninjato slightly longer than Arashikatta had been, with the hilt made of simple steel but with a few gemstones with fuinjutsu seals on them. The blade itself was almost like a liquid with the shape and hardness of metal **(A/N: Think of the effect of Tidus's classic blade from FFX, and that should give you a basic idea). **The back of the blade was a bright yellow color and the edge was red, and the area where the two colors met was a dark orange.

Asura sent a scorpion tail like appendage at Naruto, who blocked with his weapon, and literally split the tail right down the middle. "Word of warning," Naruto said as he channeled wind chakra into the blade and released it with a swing at Human Path, who had tried to attack from behind. Preta Path moved fast enough to get between the Gale Slash and Human Path and absorbed the jutsu. "Seishinhoruda here has a real sharp edge."

Naruto then set his sights on Deva Path and said, "Nagato, I want to talk to you in person, so either have these Paths take me directly to you, or I will have to cut my way through."

Pain's eyes widened, then narrowed and he said, "How did you even know that name, let alone about the Paths I am using? Perhaps Jiraiya-Sensei was far better at his spying skills than even I was aware of and told you a bit about me… it does not matter. I apologize, but whatever you would say to me in person, you will have to say it here. I simply do not trust someone else with powers on our level near my main body.

"But if we must talk, know that I am moving towards peace, so for you, the noble thing to do would be to surrender the Kyuubi to me. There is not even a need for you to die from the extraction process. With my powers, you could easily survive. And another bearer of the Rinnegan may well prove helpful to bring peace to this world. Join me and there is so much I could teach you about your powers."

"No thanks," Naruto said, getting into his kenjutsu stance. "I know exactly how you intend to bring your so-called peace to this world, and I call bull shit on it. The sort of peace you would make is nothing but a lie, just as bad as Madara's vision of peace. I however intend to find the way to a real peace."

"You are foolish and naïve. Very well, if that is how you see things, then we have nothing else to discuss."

"Bring it," Naruto said.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

Five of Caius's corpse creatures burned to ash under Sasuke'sAmaterasu and he drew his swords to cut up several more of them. He held the blade with the hawk engraved on the hilt in his right hand and the sword with the snake engraving in a reverse grip in his left. "Looks like you were right," he said as Naruto's reinforced clone jumped to the ground beside the Uchiha. "There really was going to be an attack on the village. Where is the real you?"

"He went to Kumo to fight off another invasion there," Naruto said as he cast Swamp of the Underworld to stop several of the beasts. "He gave me a full half of his remaining chakra to help this battle go well."

"And how much is that when you consider what it had taken to get all of the civilians out of the cross fire?"

"He has gotten better at controlling how much chakra he puts into us these days. Instead of evenly dividing his chakra now, he put carefully measured amounts into the clones he wanted and created a bunch with that set amount. Just enough chakra to get to each bystander and flash them to a safe area before they dispelled, so he would still have as much as possible. More or less, that took about half of his initial reserves, so when he used half of the remainder of his chakra to make me, that is about a quarter of the full reserves for each of us, but that is without drawing on Kurama, so we should both still be good."

"You are unreal with those inhuman reserves of yours," Sasuke said. "There should be a law against sealing Bijuu in a member of your clan, from what I've seen with Akari, you guys already have enough to match most jinchuriki, combining the two is practically cheating if you ask me."

"Yeah, well no one did ask the peanut gallery," Naruto snarked. "But look, there are about twenty Edo Tensei we have to take care of next. Caius, one of our foes who knows the jutsu, had one in the crowd summon them. Do you have a means of sealing one?"

"I can bind them in snakes for a bit, but I will leave the sealing to you and Itachi," Sasuke replied.

**(A/N: OST Stalemate plays)**

"Fair enough," the clone said as he drew his sword and leapt at one of the coffins, entering Sage Mode as he went. The coffin lid opened and an elastic tongue lashed out at Naruto, who spun in midair to avoid the attack before landing in front of the Edo Tensei in question. "Huh, while I hate to fight the likes of you again with you under Edo Tensei, it is good to know for sure that we really did kill you during the last time someone tried to screw up chunin exams. Orochimaru."

"This is humiliating," Orochimaru seethed as he disgorged his Kusanagi blade. "To be subject to a jutsu I myself favored at one point."

The other coffins opened and their subjects dashed off in multiple directions. In that brief instant, Naruto recognized a few of them. He spotted Drek, Jess and Kyle among them, as well as a few who looked vaguely familiar, though he had no way of recognizing them at first. Naruto growled in irritation when he saw Kyle as one of the revived. Felix was going to be ticked.

…

"Lee, what's going on?" Tenten asked as she threw several kunai at the undead beasts, but only caused a few lacerations that did not bother or slow them at all.

"I am not positive, but it seems as though the same stunt that was pulled two years ago is being repeated," Lee said as he kicked one of the things back with enough force to crack a few of its ribs as he did so. The creature simply got back up and attacked again. "And these things are very persistent indeed."

"They are corpses raised by a forbidden jutsu," a Naruto clone said as he landed next to Lee. "Unless you rip or cut them into small pieces or burn them to ash, they will keep coming at you. And the one who rose them put fire resistant chemicals in their bodies, so the latter is hard to do, and so is the former, he reinforced their bones with metal to make cutting them up harder as well."

"Yeah, but I doubt either one is impossible," Tenten said as she unsealed an axe and a ball covered in exploding tags.

"Yosh! You are most youthful indeed Tenten!" Lee declared before he turned to Naruto and asked, "Where are the bodies being controlled from?"

"Er, last time I saw the guy, he was in that direction, why?"

"Would defeating him stop all of the corpses?"

"Yeah, if the scroll he wrote the commands they follow in is destroyed, but wait, you are not seriously thinking of…" Naruto's clone trailed off as Lee undid his leg warmers and removed his weights, tossing them at a few more of the beasts and staggering them as a result of the amount of weight behind them.

"Yosh, I shall undertake the most youthful endeavor of taking out the vast majority of our opponents by defeating their controller!" Lee declared as he leapt in the direction Naruto had so stupidly pointed him to.

"Me and my big mouth," Naruto's clone muttered as Tenten sweat dropped before loping off a corpse's head. "Worst part is, I don't have enough chakra to do anything but Hiraishin with a few civilians, so stopping him from going after a very dangerous opponent is way out of my league. I just hope he doesn't get himself killed…"

"I'd go after him myself," Tenten said as she threw her exploding ball at a large group of enemies. "But I can't keep up with him even with his weights on, so it's out of my league too. But it is Lee, he can handle himself."

Naruto was about to retort that against Caius he would be in trouble, but then he saw Isaac already following the spandex clad boy with impressive speed of his own. Naruto relaxed slightly. Issac may be crazy, but he should at least be able to help Lee hold his own until he could arrange for assistance.

…

Gaara growled as a few more creatures tried to attack, only to be crushed by his sand. They still tried to rise again, so Gaara realized he had to reduce them to pulp, rather than just crush vital organs. His Sand Shield rose and took a blow meant for the back of his head.

"Hmmm, your defense has gotten both faster and stronger since the last time we met," Drakmus said to the jinchuriki. "But you will still come with-," he was cut off as his cloaked form was coated in sand, and Gaara narrowed his eyes at Drakmus.

"I am not as weak as I was when you last tried to capture me," Gaara stated as he compressed his sand on Drakmus, only for the part demon to break free in his full demonic form and attack Gaara. Before his blow could connect, his claws were blocked on the flat of a very familiar blade.

"Gaara, do you mind leaving me to settle some unfinished business with Markus here?" Felix asked conversationally as he and Drakmus both leapt back.

"Are you sure you can handle him alone?" Gaara asked.

"Like I said, this is personal unfinished business, so this is something I have to do alone."

"Very well, but be prepared to request assistance. Losing your pride is better than losing your life," Gaara stated as he floated up on a platform of sand.

"Finally, I get to rip you apart with no distractions," Drakmus said as he got into a stance that signified he was ready to charge his foe.

"That is assuming you will still desire to do so before this is over," Felix said as he got into a defensive stance.

…..

"Jeez, what kind of attack was that, hm?" Deidara asked after getting over his shock at having his bird impaled and him almost hit by the same attack. Had he not slowed his mount to make a turn at the last instant, he would have been in very bad shape right about now. As he prepped a few bombs to drop on the village, a bunch of red tendrils impaled his bird's wings and yanked it down to the ground. Deidara himself landed far from gracefully as he hastily got off his mount. "Who did that? When I get my hands on you I'll…" he started.

"I did," Alex said as the red tendrils receded into his fingertips.

"Time to make you pay then, hm!" Deidara shouted as he stepped towards his foe and launched a few more bombs at Alex, but the blood wielder simply sent another wave of his blood from the cuts on his palms to take the explosions for him.

"Keep away from me!" Alex growled as he launched a few tendrils that seemed intent on ripping the bomber to shreds.

"What's the matter, you're not afraid of a guy with a few works of art in his arsenal are you, hm?" Deidara asked as he tried to discretely send a few spider bombs to sneak past Alex's defense.

Alex did a double take and said, "Oh, actually, I just have a bit of a paralyzing fear of close quarters with females, and I assumed based off of your appearance that… er, never mind." He impaled the spider bombs and flung them away before they could go off.

Deidara developed a tick mark and shouted, "I am quite obviously a guy, thank you very much, hm!" he sent a few bird bombs at Alex in hopes of outmaneuvering his blood.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

"Honestly, you Iwa chumps can't fight jack shit, can you?" Zurui demanded as he stepped over about twenty Iwa ninja corpses. "Good grief, and here I was, hoping for a workout, but this is boring."

Several other Iwa nin dashed at their foe, a few launching long range earth jutsu, but he easily fended of the attacks and cut down his attackers. Then he felt a sense of serious danger and doged to the side to barely avoid a Dust Style attack.

Kurotsuchi landed on the ground in front of Zurui and said, "Well, if most of our forces bore you, why don't you try me?"

"Heh, I thought Kabuto had sent Mu to keep you and the Tsuchikage busy?" Zurui asked in mild surprise.

"Yeah, but we forced him to split into two parts and the half we didn't get gave us the slip, so we split up to search for him. He can't use Dust Style anymore, so he is not terribly dangerous to pursue alone anymore, as long as we kept our guards up."

"Well then, I accept your challenge," Zurui said as he raised both of his blades and charged.

…

**(A/N: OST A Crisis After Another plays)**

After about two minutes of trading blows, Minato and Madara broke apart, and Mianto threw a kunai at Madara, who dodged it before Minato flashed to the location and tried to hit Madara with a Rasengan, only for it to be absorbed. Minato Hiraishinned away before Madara could launch a counterblow, thinking, _"Great, so he can absorb my ninjutsu based attacks with that weird barrier of his, so my best bet is to save Rasengan attacks for his Susanoo, and try to use Frog Fu to beat him, but his own Taijutsu is first class, so such a battle would be too long for me to continue Sage Mode, I only have about four minute worth left… and unless I can get a good hit off on him, I won't get the chance to seal him. What do I do?"_

Kabuto continued to watch in silence from his perch in the air before he dodged a blast from Dust Style. "Well well, Onoki, it's about time you have found me, but I'm afraid that it does not matter that you did," Kabuto said with Mu's mouth as he pointed down, and Onoki's gaze followed Mu's finger before he paled.

"Madara Uchiha!" Onoki gasped and hastily floated to Minato's side.

"You look familiar," Madara said as he gazed at Onoki, who was already forming a cube between his hands. "You must be that Fence-Sitter brat I once toyed with."

Onoki fired his Dust Style attack, only to be disappointed when Madara absorbed the jutsu. _"Damn," _Onoki cursed. _"He already has the Rinnegan at this point, that will make things very difficult. But still, we have to beat him somehow, I already failed to do so twice before, this may be my final chance to make things right!"_

"Onoki, be careful, this guy is very strong," Minato said.

"I am already well aware of that! I faced him before!"

"It is time to bring this little game to an end, unless of course you can counter this," Madara said as he once again brought his Susanoo out and he formed seals along with the aura. He formed a ram seal, while one set of the Susanoo arms did a snake seal and the other did a bird seal.

"No, not that jutsu!" Onoki shouted in a panic. Madara's eyes narrowed in mild confusion as to how Onoki could recognize a jutsu the Uchiha had never before used.

"What is it?" Minato asked, before the sky darkened rapidly and he looked up. His face took on an expression of rarely seen fear and disbelief. "This can't be real. Is this really Madara's power?"

"Not here, not in the middle of my village!" Onoki cursed in despair.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: To my reviewers.**

**XxGCMARKxX:**

**Yo man it was me who posted the kiss part thanks for putting it on your story its an honor anyways like always great chapter but i got a question in the beginning it was sarurtobi who sealed half of kurama right? Will naruto get that half or will it hust stay like that?**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You're welcome for me using that. As for your question, what I had in mind is a bit of a surprise. **

**mistertstewart:**

**I'm wondering how you are going to get Naruto to use the imprint jutsu on Nagato. That's gonna be difficult with him and his paths and not to mention Konan and probably others guarding the real Nagato. Love the fight between Madara and Minato. I've always wanted them to face off and I can see that Minato will not be having an easy fight at all. Awesome chapter and loved the accidental kiss lol. Keep it up and update soon.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Glad you liked it, and Naruto will have to fight his way through the Paths like he did before, and he won't use Pulse Imprint, he has something else that will work.**

**Abdullahsaurus:**

**Nice Chapter btw i heard about SOPA in america trying pass a law that will cause fanfiction writers to go to jail. Another fanfictionauthour wrote about this in the latest chapter of We Just Wanted To Be Stronger . If you want to know more about it go to the latest chapter or chapter 15 just thought you should know in case it would affect you**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**When I read this review, I was naturally worried and went to where you pointed me to, so I saw where I could get more info there. The link I was ultimately led to is in the Author Notes below the review response section. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.**

**Titokhan: **

**working more toward the partial revival it appears, but 5 tails worth of Gyuki's chakra will be much better then the one tail worth they got in canon. but that also likely means they'll use the edo'd kin/gin brothers to get a portion of Kurama's as well. and**

rinnegan powered edo-madara.. *tosses Shikamaru a small bag of ryo* troublesome zombie

Poor daisuke. 2 of the strongest shinobi in the village's history want to rip your head off.. run boy run

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, they will get more of Gyuki's chakra than they did in canon, and that will partially make up for the fact that they will lack a few more complete Bijuu this time. And Madara will be the cause of a lot of problems in this story. Poor Daisuke indeed…**

**cook563: **

**well damn, now that is a cliffhanger worth animating. liking the direction of everything. sucks for the two tails but hey there has to be some casualties. keep up the great work and at least Naruto doesn't have to fight all six Pains AGAIN. well at least we hope.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Thanks, I was going for the effect of people thinking the cliffie was epic.**

**mellra:**

**Good work! We haven't seen Madara vs Minato yet in canon because the Uchiha keeps showing his unhealthy obsession with Hashirama, so this should be good! Also, wonder if Madara will give Obito any advice on how to deal with Raizen, cause his appearance could jepordize their plans. Can't wait to see more!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**SkyRune:**

**rasEnshur1Ken-sama, congratulations on the update. Madara's back, wonder when he will finally be eaten by the freakin Shinigami. Also a battle to use, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze and Tsunade Senju vs. Mito Uzumaki-Senju (Edo Tensei young version). and a jutsu's for Mito to use; "Sage Art: Gate of the Great God", a different form of "Forbidden Life Technique Release: Creation of Heaven and Earth" that saturates the air with Senjutsu Chakra, and my own "Grand Sealing Art Release: Uzushiogakure Cradle" this jutsu is a giant barrier(1.7 miles wide and used during the 1st Great War) that allows only those of Uzumaki blood to enter while outsiders can do nothing but watch. let me know what you think. U can do it.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I already have plans with Mito, and your suggestions don't fit into them. Sorry, great ideas, but not the story for them. **

**Redsox31:**

**I know Naruto has insane chakra levels, but, thousands of shadow clones, along with using the Hiraishin and using different paths of the rinnegan and he is still up to fight, this is starting to get ridiculous.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**First of all, he only made a thousand, not thousands. Second of all, I did ensure he would have some limits to the amount of chakra he could use for this. And third of all, he was able to make a thousand clones when he beat Mizuki. That was before he was even a genin! The kid was ridiculous to begin with on the stamina department!**

**Death-Prince-3:**

**MY LIEGE ! PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY INSOLENCE! I HAVE NOT READ YOUR STROY FOR THE PAST FEW 3 CHAPTERS AND THUS UNABLE TO REVIEW THEM! COuld you find it in your Noble Heart to forgive a fool such as myself * Bow's head down* You may execute me for treason should you wish... however school started and for a IB year 2 Senior thats BAD...**

On to the review! These past chapter's have been a god send! The flow, the music selection, the power's, they all mix together FABULOUSLY! Also I'm happy that Nagato and Konan will be alright soon I hope...but what about the dead dude's? Or are they gonners? and Bubble Boy? ANd will there be a new poll soon? I CANT WAIT ANYMORE! This, along with a few other's is what gets me out of bed in the morning hoping for new chapters! SO I THANK YOU MY LIEGE!

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**0_0… jeez, you act very dedicated to this story. If by Bubble Boy you mean Utakata, he is dead by now, since Saiken was extracted. As for the people in Kumo who bit the bullet, they will be brought back by Nagato, and Naruto will ensure he has enough chakra to survive. **

**roukie95:**

**Great story!...is minato's sage mode lyk naruto's**

** rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yes it is like Naruto's.**

**gameipedia:**

**Nice but why didn't naruto use the pulse imprint jutsu instead of punching him that would solve things quicker**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**He does not know Pulse Imprint, the chakra control required is too high for him. If he tried it, he would probably have a mess to clean up, if you catch my meaning. He has something else that will work, but he will need to get to Nagato himself for that.**

**So, as was mentioned by a reviewer, some people are trying to pass a law that puts a lot more regulations on copyright materials, and people who write fan fiction will be put at risk by extension. I signed a petition to stop the act from being passed, and here is the link to the site where you can do the same, and get more information. **

** .gov/petition/stop-sopa-2013/LMzMVrQF**

**And spread the word too! The more people who hear about this and sign the petition, the better!**

**More fights to come next chapter! Please review!**


	66. Chapter 65: The Might of Madara

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N:900 reviews! YES! So here is the next chapter! The battle in Kumo should end with this chapter. **

**Chapter 65: The Might of Madara**

"Gaar, I am sick of that ShinraTenseijutsu!" A shouted as he threw a few pieces of rubble off of himself. He knocked some dust off and staggered for a second before he turned his lightening armor back on. He ran in the direction he had last been fighting, and eventually came to where Naruto and Pain were currently staring each other down. A's face than contorted into an expression of surprise as he spotted the back of Naruto's head. "It can't be… the Yellow Flash, here in Kumo?" A asked himself, and Naruto heard him.

"Well, not quite," Naruto said as he turned to look back at A, not realizing why this was a bad move.

A snarled as he recognized the Rinnegan that Naruto had as the same eyes as Pain, and jumped to conclusions. "You are one of the enemy!" he declared as he charged a horror struck Naruto.

_"Shit what to do, how do I explain to him that I am on his side before he gives Pain a good opening!?" _

**"Switch with me, don't ask why, I'll handle it," **Kurama said.

Naruto did not argue, he just let Kurama take over. The fox avoided A's fist and grabbed the back of A's head and used Peta Path to absorb the cloak and A's chakra, causing the Raikage to pass out. _"What the hell, I thought you were gonna explain things to him!?" _Naruto demanded once he switched back.

**"Like he would have listened, you know how hot-headed he can be. He would have attacked you first and asked questions later. He will be calmer when he wakes up and this fight is already over, but for now he was a liability."**

_"Guess you are right about that," _Naruto said as he dodged a few missiles from Asura Path, dragging A with him as he went. He directed his hydra and mastodon to get between Pain and him. The Hydra spit its acidic blood at a few of the Paths, who dodged. While adding Alex's KekkeiGenkai to the hydra's genetic makeup did not give it the ability to control its blood the same way Alex could control his, it now had the ability to spit it.

Animal Path then summoned the giant bird, which flew over the two summons and laid a bunch of eggs that exploded the moment they hit the hydra, blasting off all of its heads and a few chunks of its main body. Since the neck stumps were cauterized by the blasts, the heads of the hydra did not regenerate, and it went poof. The mastodon however unleased a gale of air from its trunk and blew some of the eggs right back at the bird. The mastodon was then hit by the summoned rhino and went poof at the same moment the bird did.

"Hey, what's going on **here?" **B asked as he landed next to Naruto, who was still dragging A, with two swords drawn. "Tell me what ya did to Bro, or I will teach ya the meaning of **fear, **fool, ya fool!"

"Realx, he is just knocked out, he mistook me for an enemy, but you better get him to safety," Naruto said. "I'll take care of the enemy here."

"How do I know you aren't a **foe? **After all, ya knocked out **bro!"**

**"B, the brat is the Kyuubi'sjinchiriki"**Gyuki said** "He just contacted me through Bijuu telepathy. He would not assist those after us Bijuu."**

B paused before he nodded and left with A. Naruto meanwhile summoned a triceratops with a strangely glossy head shield to take on the rhino. They both met each other's charge, before the triceratop's head shield suddenly flashed with a brilliant light, causing the rhino to back off with its eyes closed in pain.

**(A/N: OST Naruto's Main Theme plays)**

Before the prehistoric beast could finish the job, Animal Path summoned its three giant centipedes to attack the triceratops. Naruto responded by summoning five velociraptors that attacked the centipedes with perfect coordination. The centipedes immediately tried to fight back, but got impaled a few times by the velociraptors growing several spines form their bones. Naruto had given them that ability from the DNA of the ninjatoKimimaro had given Naruto to fight Drakmus during that brief confrontation a couple of years ago. The Kaguya had told him to keep it to use as he pleased, and initially, Naruto had decided it would be a cool trophy once Arashikatta had been fixed the first time, but he got a bit of a use from the bone ninjato as well this way.

The centipedes went poof, followed by the rhino when the triceratops finished it off, but Deva Path went on the attack then. With a single high powered ShinraTensei, he blasted all five of the velociraptors into the triceratops with enough force to dispel all six of the summoned beasts. Asura Path made to use his chakra boosters to get behind Naruto and use Asura attack against the blonde in an attempt to force him to use Preta Path and get him to leave an opening for the Animal Path to summon another creature to attack Naruto. Instead, Naruto turned around and used his own chakra boosters to go right at the surprised **Asura Path** and formed his two additional right arms with his Asura Path** (A/N: This can get a little confusing, so I will bold Pain's Paths from here to make it a little easier.)**"Asura Path: Propelled Rasengan Barrage!" Naaruto shouted as his three right arms formed Rasengans and used them to overpower the **Asura Path's **chakra beam, and upon reaching the** Path**, blasted it to pieces. **Preta**got between Naruto and **Deva, **and **Deva **used BanshoTenin to pull Naruto to **Preta, **who grabbed the jinchuriki by the neck and pinned him to the side of a rock.

Naruto however gave a shit eating grin as he said, "Oh, you want my chakra then?" He felt the drain and he started absorbing more natural energy. "Have as much as ya want!" As expected, **Preta's**face bulged as he underwent frog mutation, before he turned to stone. Naruto blasted his way through **Preta, **and fired several rockets at the remaining four Paths, who were forced to dodge. **Animal **summoned the giant chameleon, and entered it, becoming invisible.

Naruto ignored **Animal **and ran to **Human, **using BanshoTenin to yank the Path right to him. As **Human **flew at him, Naruto drew his sword again and bisected **Human **with it before turning his attention to **Naraka, **who was busy trying to use the King of Hell to repair **Asura.**He ran at **Naraka, **and **Deva **realized what Naruto was doing, and thus used ShinraTensei to throw Naruto at **Animal, **who Naruto already knew was there thanks to Sage Mode, and again ignored, instead using Hiraishin to go right bact to where he had been before **Deva **had knocked him away, having placed a tag on the ground at the last instant.

**Naraka's**eyes widened as he saw Naruto after him and tried to retreat, but was caught when Naruto formed his arm into the Rasengan Rail Gun, and fired it at the Path, blasting a hole right through his back and out his chest. "It may feel odd to use, but Asura Path is awesome," Naruto said as he ducked under an attempt by **Animal **it wrap him in the chameleon's snake headed tail and formed a Rasenshuriken. He threw the jutsu, and **Animal **was forced to ditch the summonto avoid being caught in the jutsu himself.

**Deva **narrowed his eyes as if contemplating something for a second before he dashed to **Animal**, and used ShinraTensei on the Path to launch it far in a certain direction. Naruto was confused as to why **Deva **would use its jutsu on the only other remaining Pain, but put aside the question to attack. **Deva **withdrew a chakra rod and Naruto drew his sword again. **Deva **knew better than to block Seishinhoruda by the blade, so struck the side of it with the rod to deflect it. For a moment they traded blows and Naruto gained the upper hand before **Deva **used ShinraTensei to knock Naruto back, but was countered by equal force when Naruto did the same. Naruto was just about to finish the job when **Deva **went poof.

Realizing **Animal **had summoned **Deva, **Naruto ran in the direction **Deva **had sent **Animal **in, already having a good idea what Pain was planning. After about two minutes of pursuit, his superior speed allowed him to catch up and **Deva **threw a black sphere in the sky as Naruto expected. "ChibakuTensei!"

"Not going to let that work!" Naruto shouted as he made two Shadow Clones, who helped him form the Rasenrocket, and he sent it at the black sphere just as it started to gather the mass of rock around it. The sphere exploded when it was hit, and **Animal **immediately summoned the giant crab and the panda to try to attack Naruto in the disorientating light. Naruto of course had a few more summons of his own and brought out the dragon he had tested before as well as a giant tiger. The tiger took out the panda with a flurry of swipes from its paws, while the dragon switched to lightning breath and gave the crab a very shocking experience. **Animal **Path was then decapitated by a gorilla Naruto had summoned afterwards. In a last ditch effort, **Deva **fired off as much power from ShinraTensei as he could gather on short notice and defeated the three summons Naruto had out, but Naruto once again braced himself with chakra chains in the ground and chakra in the soles of his feet.

"Time to end this!" Naruto shouted as he used BanshoTenin to yank Pain to him one last time before holding him with some chakra chains. Naruto then proceeded to move in and before Pain could use his jutsu again, Naruto pulled out all the chakra receiver rods in Yahiko's body before stabbing himself with one.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

"Nagato, are you alright?" Konan asked as the Uzumaki fell forward coughing.

"Pain has been defeated," Nagato said. "And the Kyuubi boy knows where we are."

"What? Then we need to leave now!"

"No, let him come. It would take too long to get this machine out of here and we can still surprise him with one last attack," Nagato said, looking meaningfully at the firing mechanism in the chair.

….

"That snake brat sure does have a bunch of these Edo Tensei doesn't he?" Jiraiya asked rhetorically as he sealed a few nameless Cloud joninwithin stone prisons and placed tags on them. This particular group of Iwanin he had helped save from almost certain death was far more grateful to Jiraiya than the first group he and Minato had helped. They were currently bowing and offering thanks, and Jiraiya simply laughed and while rubbing the back of his head, he said, "Ah, no need for thanks guys, after all, the Great Toad Sage does good things out of the goodness of his heart!" He said this while doing one of his famous, and rather overdramatic kabuki, poses, causing a few sweat drops. Then a shadow descended on the battle field, and Jiraiya looked up and paled. "What in the hell!?"

…

Kurotsuchi was actually having quite a hard time fighting Zurui. His kenjutsu was on par with one of the Seven Swordsmen, and he was fast as well. He was currently conducting a wind element through his straight sword, and a lightning element through his katana. The Iwakunoichi was able to keep her distance mainly due to her flight abilities and was conducting a wind element through her own sword to counter his attacks.

"Why don't you try this on for size?!" she demanded as she sheathed her blade and formed a cube of Dust Style between her hands.

"Storm Style: Laser Tendrils!" Zurui shouted as he fired several beams that could clearly be maneuvered by Zurui's will.

"A storm style KekkeiGenkai?" Kurotsuchi demanded as she flew out of the way of the whipping beams and aimed her Dust Style jutsu. "I thought that KekkeiGenkai was exclusive to Kumogakure, and you are from the Hidden Moon Village!"

"There is a lot about me that you don't know," Zurui said as he directed more beams at Kurotsuchi, who flew higher.

"It doesn't matter, you are finished!" she shouted and the cube expanded at Zurui, who leapt back, removing the shirt of his skin tight metal bodysuit from under his Akatsuki cloak as he went. The Dust Style blasted into the area Zurui was in, and everything in the area was reduced to dust. "Gotcha!" she said triumphantly as she landed on the ground.

"Not quite," Zurui said from behind her as he tried to decapitate her from behind. She was able to detect the attack on time and duck before he could. She rolled forward and made an earth wall between him and her, and shifted her head to the side in time to avoid his lightning clad blade piercing through the wall.

"He got faster," she muttered. "Is it because of the shirt he removed?"

"That's right," he said from behind her. "By the way," he dodged her attack with her wind style blade. "Your Dust Style is quite a powerful ability. It is an inherited trait I take it?"

"What of it?"Kurotsuchi demanded as she caused several earthen spikes to rise from the ground to try to impale her opponent, but he easily avoided them.

Zurui was about to respond, but the sky seemed to suddenly darken and he looked up before he said, "Well, shit."

…

"What on earth is going on!?" Kisame demanded as he glared up at the giant rock that was descending at an alarming rate, and was big enough to squash most of the village, and that was not even accounting for the shock wave. Roshi's unconscious body lay next to where the former Swordsman of the Mist stood.

A snake wearing glasses and with silver hair quickly slithered to Kisame before it disgorged the unconscious Han and a restrained Hidan. "Let me go!" Hidan demanded, coughing slightly as his barely regenerated chest caused him discomfort. "I have to sacrifice that blonde bastard to Jashin-Sama before we go, and… WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?"

"No time for arguments!" Kabuto said calmly despite the situation as he took on his more humanoid form. He cast a Summoning Jutsu, and his creation, Manda II, appeared and opened his maw. "Get in!" Kabuto ordered and Kisamehurridly threw the two jinchuriki and Han into the mindless snake's mouth and got in himself, followed by Kabuto. Manda II then burrowed under the ground as fast as it could, trying to get as deep as possible before the meteor hit.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Kisame asked somewhat nervously. "Even If the meteor itself doesn't hit us, there is going to be an earthquake…"

"Hopefully the tremors will dampen before they get as deep as we are going, and what does get to our level below ground, Manda II's flesh should be enough to cushion us, even if it kills the thing!" Kabuto reassured him, though he mentally cursed Madara for putting allies at risk like this, but when he mentioned this to the Uchiha through Mu, all Madara told him was that he had better make sure the jinchuriki were well out of the way.

…..

**(A/N: OST Kouenplays)**

"What are we going to do about this?" Onoki asked in frustration. "Even if I stopped one of the boulders, there will be another one after it!"

Minato frowned in shock to hear that Madara had summoned two of the stones, and Madara narrowed his eyes. "How does Onoki know about a jutsu that has never been used before?"

"I'll handle both of them!" Minato said as he bit his thumb and focused his remaining Sage energy into his next summoning. With a poof, Fukasaku and Shima were on his shoulders.

"I was in the middle of making din- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GETTING US INTO, BOY!?" Shima demanded as she got a load of what was descending.

"Sorry, I don't like bringing you guys into such life threatening battles, but as you can see, I had little choice," Minato said as he released a few seals on his wrists, refreshing his chakra reserves almost back to full. "I was running low on Sage chakra, so I need your help to finish this battle. I am going to need all the power I can get if I am going to teleport something that massive away."

Without further ado, Minato focused all of his power into a Hiraishin kunai and a space-time barrier opened up, and swallowed the meteor. On another side of the elemental nations, there was a deserted and barren island far from society, where Minato had stored a lot of his spare tools and notes over the years. The loss of such a treasure trove would be hard to bear, but lost lives were much harder to replace than an armory.

As Oniki predicted, there was a second meteor, but Minato was able to teleport that one away as well, though his limits were being severely pushed. He sank to a knee once the job was done, panting. The only thing keeping him from running out of chakra altogether was one of the seals he had slowly bleeding stored chakra back into his body, and the Sage energy Fukasaku and Shima were providing him. The meteors both reduced the island Minato had teleported them into rubble, and a tsunami was made as a result of the mass being dropped into the ocean. It was fortunate that the wave would not travel all the way to land that people inhabited.

"He did it," Onoki said in shock at Minato's efforts. He had been ready to try to stop a meteor if he had to, but Minato had rendered such a measure unnecessary.

Before Onoki could get over his relief and shock, a hand from Madara'sSusanoo grabbed the Fence-Sitter, pinning his arms to his sides and pulling him up to eye level with the Uchiha. Onoki struggled, but he had no luck escaping.

"Where did you get your foreknowledge of my jutsu!?" Madara demanded harshly. The helpless Onoki merely spat at Madara, prompting the Uchiha to shift his Rinnegan back to the Eternal Mangekyo and he forced Onoki to look him in the eye, casting Tsukuyomi as he did so. Onoki shuddered and went limp and Madara simply stood there before his features broke into a sadistic grin. "Well now, that is interesting, very interesting!" Madara cackled as he tossed the comatose Tsuchikage to the ground and Minato ran forward catching Onoki as he did so.

"What is interesting?" Kabuto asked through Mu, landing next to Madara.

"That is a discussion we can have later," Madara said as he gazed at Minato who was glaring up at him. "For now, let me finish with my fun here."

"Very well then," Kabuto said as the coffin Mu was kept in sprang up and reclaimed the Tsuchikage.

Minato cursed as he teleported Onoki to a safe location for now. He had to defeat Madara now more than ever, before the Uchiha could spill the intel of the time travel to Obito and Kabuto. "Now then, time to raise the stakes a little," Madara said as he cast a few signs and thirty more Madaras made of wood appeared, and they made to surround Minato, and activated their Susanoos.

"This is very bad lad," Fukasaku said as he took in stock of the situation. "Just who is this we are fighting?!"

"MadaraUchiha," Minato said as he avoided several blows at once using Hiraishin to do so. "And it seems as though he has some of Hashirama's powers as well. Shima gasped.

"Then we need ta pull out all the stops if we are going to win," Fukasaku replied in all seriousness. "We need ta figure out a way to take out all these clones at once, as well as the original." Minato glanced at said original, who was watching Minato play a dodging game of life and death against the Susanoo army.

"Kind of figured that out already," Minato said in irritation. "Got any genius ideas?"

"Well, there is one thing we could try," the aged elder started. "But don't you have any wide area effect ninjutsu that can do the job? What about the Rasenbomb with Wind Style added, that should be more than enough to take out the majority of these enemies…"

"Problem. This guy can absorb ninjutsu."

"He can what!?" Shima asked in shock.

"He has this dojutsu called the Rinnegan, the eyes of the RikudouSennin. I think he somehow got it as a side effect of whatever he did to gain Hashirama's power."

"What about genjutsu?" Fukasaku asked.

"Haven't tried. I can't cast any that would affect an Uchiha."

"Well, the thing we could try that I mentioned before, is a genjutsu that is very potent. It might-,"

"Ah no, I ain't singing no duet with you, it is too humiliating!" Shima shouted at Fukasaku, and Minato just looked confused at what was going on as the two toads started fighting. He avoided a few of the YasakaMagatama beads thrown by the Susanoos.

"You are a hard one to hit," Madara said. "But dodging alone won't keep you from losing to me. You are already close to running on fumes, and unless you find a way to go on the offensive, you are done for."

Minato responded by bonking both aged toads on the head. "What did ya do that for!?" Shima demanded as she clutched her noggin.

"You guys need to can your arguing and do whatever it is that could get us out of this mess!" Minato said with a comical angry face. "There is far more at stake than just your dignity you know!"

"He has a point," Fukasaku said, and Shima gave a small "tch!" before she nodded. "Just avoid getting hit lad, this will take a little bit ta work."

"I am way ahead of you," Minato said dryly as he avoided yet another Susanoo attack.

"Don't use Hiraishin either. If you change locations too abruptly, that might disrupt the jutsu, so you will have to rely on your foot work."

"Wait, what?" Minato asked when he realized avoiding damage was going to be much harder with that restriction.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

**(A/N: OST Girei plays)**

Naruto carried Yahiko's body all the way to the inside of a canyon before he spotted a place on the wall that peeled apart, being made of paper and he stepped into the chamber where Nagato and Konan where waiting for him. Both seemed surprised when Naruto respectfully set down Yahiko's body once he was inside.

"I still want to talk with the two of you," he started.

"You have already made it clear that you know about and reject my ideals of peace," Nagato replied. "And if you came here to preach Jiraiya-Sensei's foolish and outdated ideals of peace, then we have nothing to discuss. You will give the Kyuubi to me, so I may forge peace for this world."

With no other warning, Nagato's chair fired its rod at Naruto, who stood there and took it in the gut as he did in the previous time. Konan sighed with relief that their last ditch effort seemingly worked. "Do not worry. I have missed your vital spots, but this close, I can control your movements. You are now mine, Kyuubi," Nagato said.

Nagato then suddenly felt an overpowering sense of fear. Naruto's eyes glared up at Nagato, now in the form of Kurama's as Naruto switched with his tenant. **"Enough with the Kyuubi business," **Kurama growled as Nagato was assaulted by his chakra. **"My true name is Kurama, and that is how you will address me, and just so we are clear, I do not belong to anyone, certainly not one who breaks and gives up as easily as you do!"**

"Nagato!" Konan shouted in worry before Kurama finally pulled the rod out of Naruto's body and switched back with him. Nagato collapsed as he breathed extremely heavily.

_"Wow, I think you were a bit rougher with him than I was," _Naruto said in his mind.

**"Please, he had more chakra at this point than last time, so it was warranted. Besides, it will take more than that to put a member of your clan down for a long period of time, you guys are like cockroaches."**

"Like I said, I still just want to talk Nagato," Naruto said. "And don't think of attacking Konan, I don't want to have to hurt you. All I ask is that you both hear me out."

Nagato seemed to think it over before he sighed and said, "Very well then…"

"Nagato, he is wasting our time!" Konan said.

"He beat all six of my Paths with only a mild challenge from it and resisted my chakra easily. On top of that, he seems to have full control over the Kyu- Kurama's chakra, as well as cooperation from the fox.  
We don't have a choice but to listen to what he wants to say. We are no match for him at this point."Nagato gazed at Naruto and said, "Speak then…"

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

Madara noticed something strange going on with his senses the moment the frogs started croaking. He realized that they were trying to cast a sound based genjutsu on him. "I won't let you win!" Madara declared as his Wood Clones began attacking with more speed and effort than before.

**(A/N: OST With the Shinobi World at Stake Plays)**

Minato put all of his dodging skill to good use. He ducked to avoid a blade here, dived to the side to avoid a Susanoo kick there, and kept moving to give the small army as hard a time as possible.

Eventually, he was hit by a somewhat lucky shot by the flat of one of the Susanoo blades, and knocked him at one who moved to impale him. He recovered his wits fast enough to slam a Rasengan into the tip of the blade and break it. He landed as another Susanoo tried to stomp on him while one beside it tried to swing its blade down on him. He ran right at the leg that was still on the ground of the Susanoo about to stomp on him and used a Rasengan to attack the leg, and cause the Susanoo to fall into the one next to it.

Minato jumped to avoid some more beads and flipped over a blade and landed neatly on the flat of it. He then jumped away from more attacks and found himself cornered by a few of the Susanoos and they swung their blades down at him. Thinking fast, Minato went to the spot where only one blade could hit him and caught the bladed between his hands with his Sage enhanced strength. "Raah!" he shouted as he swung the Susanno into the other two and won free of the blockade. He dove under a kick and turned away from another blade out to impale him.

Madara realized that he was not getting anywhere with Minato proving to be a rather elusive target and made a few signs. "Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" he shouted and the ground erupted with another forest, putting Minato slightly off balance, but the Wood Clones were in the same boat, so they had trouble accurately attacking themselves. Minato found himself surrounded by a bunch of trees with branches moving to attack him from all angles.

"Keep the song up!" Minato ordered both of the sages on his shoulders and they did not argue as Minato dished forward, and shouted, "Giant Rasengan!" the giant sphere blasted away all the trees in front of him and gave him a place to run from the branches attacking his other sides.

Madara however was persistent and leapt above Minato and shouted, "Fire Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" With that, he set the entire forest ablaze, though he ended up destroying his clones in the process. Madara was sure he had won then when he realized he could still hear the frogs singing. He looked down and saw Minato holding a scroll that he was sucking the flames into.

It was then that his head throbbed and he suddenly found himself in a prison of a water cube with four toad statues surrounding him. "To think, you were able to avoid all of those attacks, and you even managed to capture me in a genjutsu. I am impressed," Madara said.

"That is the power of the Hokage, and of the Sages! Now it is time to seal you for good!" Minato said as he took a small bottle out of his pocket and set it down. He cast a few seals and the top popped off. Several chains similar to what Kushina and Naruto used emerged from the bottle and proceeded to wrap Madara, clearly trying to pull him into the bottle to be sealed.

"I see. You truly are worthy of your title of Hokage. Perhaps you really are on the same level as Hashirama. But now let me show you the power of Madara Uchiha!" The chains shattered as Madara roared, breaking the Frog Song genjutsu through sheer will and a giant blue aura that was the complete version of Madara's Susanoo appeared.

"What!?" Fukasaku demanded and Shima also widened her eyes and Minato cursed.

"And that is not all either!" Madara shouted as the Susanoo shifted form until it turned into a gigantic samurai like warrior, the chakra fully stabilized.

Minato grit his teeth and sweat profusely as he gazed intently at the final form of Madara's greatest jutsu. "Just how powerful are you!?" he demanded.

"This is the Perfect Final Susanoo," Madara said. "Be honored that I would use it against you. Against your strength, nothing short of this will suffice. Its power is as great as a Bijuu's."

"What now lad?" Shima asked Minato.

"Working on it," the blonde replied as the Susanoo prepared to unsheathe its blade. "But I am almost completely tapped, so whatever I can come up with had better be good."

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: Review responses again!**

**Arniecar145:**

**Woah! Epic boss battles everywhere lol. I love what you've done. Sorry for the lack of reviews. Got stuck behind by about six chapters and I finally caught up lol. Awesome job man**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I was hoping you would find those fights to be epic. Anyway, please try to review more often, I don't like to think people I like to hear form have stopped reading the story.**

**Titokhan:**

**Minato really pushing Edo-Madara (kinda glad for that 30 minute Sage chakra seal right now. but not so happy about Madara bringing out the big rocks, LITERALLY)**

The poor summoned multiplying puppy, melted by acid.. no replicating for you.. muahahaha.

Should be interesting to see what Lee can do

*gets hit in head by stray flying mountain* Ouch, that stung a little *falls down*

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**(Dumps water on your head) You all right? That was quite a blow there. I hope you like the final outcome of the battle between Minato and Madara!**

**Vallavarayan:**

**nice... hope you have minato hiraishin the meteorites onto kabuto and madara :-D**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**That would have been a very good way to take out all of Iwa in the process. **

**XxGCMARKxX:**

**Hey man love this chapter and man i hope nothing bad happens to us fanfiction authors anyways i was thinking if naruto saves konan and nagato will he be able to heal nagato so he can walk? Also maybe you can make deva yahiko again like his personality or just revive him oh further more since issac is on naruto's dimension he should annoy evey couple there especially sasukexsakura or akarixdsisuke oh can i call u a nickname like shuti or ken or something? once again great chapter**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, Naruto will be able to help Nagato with that problem. And Isaac better watch out for making fun of Sakura and Sasuke, because we all know how Sakura can be, and all Sasuke has to do to put Isaac through hell is to get a hold of the squirrel secret and use Tsukuyomi on him. Oh, and please no to the nicknames, unless you add an honorific to my account name. Just please don't, it bugs me.**

**Redsox31:**

**Lee and Isaac fighting together, oh the nightmares to be had there. Also,is Shikamaru ever going to get into one of these big fight scenes?**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, Shika will be in a fight next chapter, though you will be surprised with who. **

**cook563:**

**great, if my guess is as good as i think it is Madara is about to unleash the balls of DOOM. any ways i think it would be anticlimactic is Minato ended up defeating him the same way Naruto defeated the absorption pain during that fight. anyways keep up the great work and I'm looking forward to what will happen after this, i would laugh a little if out of nowhere a squirrel just crossed Issacs path while trying to help Lee.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**When you are saying what would be anticlimactic, do you mean with the Sage chakra absorption thing taking out Preta Path?**

**Sorry I did not do anything in Suna, but I am sure most people are more excited by Iwa and Kumo at the moment. So next chapter, we have the epic conclusion to the battle between Minato and Madara, as well as the end of Naruto and Nagato's issues! Can Minato survive this encounter with one of the deadliest shinobi in history, and can Naruto remind Nagato about the true way to peace? Once that is done, we can keep more attention on the battles in Suna!**

**Please keep the reviews up! I just recently reached an average of 14 reviews per chapter, and would love to make it fifteen before the series ended! **


	67. Chapter 66: Two Villages Saved

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N:Sorry it took so long for me to post this chapter, but Labor Day can cause a few problems for a person's schedule. The whole weekend and Monday closed the library on me. So I hope this chapter was worth the wait! A few more fights will start in this chapter.**

**Chapter 66: Two Villages Saved**

**(A/N: OST Risking it All plays)**

Shikamaru caught eight of the corpses in the arena in his shadow and said, "Shadow Tearing Jutsu."His shadow unleashed several dark tendrils that impaled the beasts and tore them asunder.

"Not bad at all, Shika" Temari said as she flung a group of her own back with the fan jutsu she was so fond of, giving them a good deal of lacerations as they flew back. "But I bet I can get more of these things than you can."

"Nah, it would be too troublesome to take that challenge," Shikamaru said and Temari developed a tick mark.

"What's the matter, are you chicken?" she asked. "You know I'm going to win, so you are scared to even try."

"No, it's just that I am too lazy to keep score and even if I did, we would end up getting into an argument about who won, and like a lot of things, it is far more trouble than it is worth."

"Getting up in the morning is more trouble than it is worth for you," she deadpanned.

"Finally, someone gets- GET DOWN!" he shouted as a black haired Edo Tensei attacked Temari from behind with a sword. Leaving nothing to chance, he attached his shadow to hers before he hit the deck, causing her to do the same and the attack to whoosh over her head.

"Thanks Shika," she said as she was released and rolled away from her assailant. She sent a blast of wind at the Edo Tensei, and the reanimated fighter was blasted back, but not before he cast a few hand seals and shot a fire style jutsu at the Suna kunoichi. "Why are fire styles so damn popular?" Temari demanded as she avoided the jutsu, before bringing her fan to bear for another attack. That was when she noticed that her opponent had a Sharingan, and her eyes widened. "And what is an Uchiha doing here?"

"This is a troublesome jutsu called Edo Tensei," Shikamaru stated as he sent his shadow at the mystery Uchiha and cursed as he failed to capture said opponent. "This is not just a corpse we are fighting now, but an actual foe with access to all of the abilities he had in life. "Like I said, troublesome."

"You are right, I do have all the power I had before," the Uchiha said. "And I am stronger than your average Uchiha, so you cannot possibly defeat me."

"Oh yeah? We'll see!" Shikamaru said as the gears in his head turned.

…

"Let's see, I think now would be a good time to put a few Chimeras into play, since the enemy seems to be able to hold their own against what I have already put into play," Caius said as he watched through the eyes of several of his Edo Tensei slaves. He took out the scrolls with his Chimeras in them, and Tobi, who was right next to him, began to jump around in excitement.

"Oh, oh, let Tobi bring them out, let Tobi, Tobi is a good boy, Tobi will do it," the childish man begged.

Caius pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Obito still felt he had an image to maintain to make foes underestimate him, but because Obito was not aware of the time travel, and that many enemies already knew who he was, it was more of a liability than anything else. "No, these scrolls will only activate at my touch and the Chimeras will only do what is written in them by me in my own blood. So I will have to do it."

"I won't let you do anything!" Lee declared as he leapt around the corner of the building Caius and Tobi were next to. "Dynamic Entry!" He shot at Caius with a foot extended, but his kick was caught by the rogue Shikkokyo and he was flipped across a good distance until he landed on his feet.

"Well, well, an unexpected guest," Caius said. "Tobi, take care of him while I release my special undead beasts."

"Yay, yay, Tobi gets to have a little bit of fun," Tobi said as he rushed Lee, who got into a taijutsu stance and threw a punch at Tobi, only for his attack to go right through and Tobi to end up behind him. And then Tobi grabbed Lee from behind and put a baby cap on him. "Now, now, lie down little boy, if you behave, I will take you on a stroll through the park later," Tobi said as he tried to force a struggling Lee into a baby carrier he got from who knows where.

"Tobi… what are you DOING!?" Caius roared as he opened the scrolls and unsealed three Chimeras before sending them in the direction of the arena.

"Tobi was told to take care of this boy," Tobi pouted as Lee fought his way free and ripped off the cap and shouted something about not being **that **youthful. "And Tobi was taking very good care of the boy, wasn't he?"

Caius face palmed and seriously considered blowing Obito's supposed cover to make him be serious. "Not that kind of care, you idiot! I meant, dispose of him!"

"Oh, well why didn't Caius say so?" Tobi said as he took out a few kunai and threw them at Lee, who easily deflected them and leapt at Tobi with a foot extended to kick the moron in his masked face. "Gah, no, please, Tobi hates pain!" Tobi cried as he cowed and Lee passed through again. "Ha ha, just kidding," Tobi said with a few chuckles.

Caius sighed and said, "You know what, **I **will deal with him."

"Ah, but that will leave Tobi without an opponent," Tobi pouted, before he was kicked through the side of a building by Isaac, who had just arrived. "Oh, never mind!" Tobi said gleefully as he emerged from the rubble and sized Isaac up. "Yay, goodie, I get someone else to fight!" he said as he reached into his robes and pulled out a carrot stick, pointed it at Issac in a fencer's stance and shouted, "En

Lee ran at Caius and drew his fist back as the Shikkokyo got into a ready stance.

**(End OST)**

…

"Will you hold still!?" Kurotsuchi demanded as she fired another Dust Style jutsu at Zurui, who avoided it with a rather maddening chuckle. After the boulders had been teleported away by Minato, the two opponents had gone right back at it.

**(A/N: OST Stalemate plays)**

"Sorry, I have no intention of letting myself get disintegrated," Zurui replied. "It seems rather bad for my health." He then threw his straight sword at his opponent, and she was forced to dodge the unexpected attack. Zurui rushed in behind the blade and seemed like he was going to try to grab Kurotsuchi with his now free hand. She dodged, and his fingertips just barely brushed her on the cheek.

"My turn!" she shouted as she formed a few seals, before she felt a strange sensation on the cheek that Zurui had touched. She felt the cheek as a sealing matrix in the form of a circle appeared on it. Within the circle was a cube, a cone and a cylinder design. The three dimensional shapes disappeared from the circle after a second, though the sealing matrix itself remained.

"What the?" she asked as she finished her seals and fired a wind style jutsu and Zurui, who easily avoided the attack. But she drove him into a corner and began to form a final Dust Style attack to finish things. But the clear white chakra burst apart. "What happened?" she demanded as she stared at her hands. She knew that she had enough chakra left for at least one more good shot, so why didn't the jutsu work?"

"Confused?" Zurui asked as he shifted his robes enough to reveal his chest, which had a sealing matrix all over it. The matrix was in the shape of a triangle pointed down, and with a circle that was the same as the one on Kurotsuchi's face at each point of the triangle. The circle on the top right had the same design that had disappeared from the Iwa kunoichi's seal, while the one on the top left had a design of a few clouds and several bolts of lightning in addition to rain. The bottom circle was empty.

"This just so happens to be a kinjutsu fuinjutsu that Derek perfected and tested on me," Zurui explained. "It allows me to steal as many as three Kekkei Genkai or Kekei Touta through skin contact. The only way to get them back it to either kill me or if I stole more than three, the least recent one I took would return to the originator. Now then, I believe it is time to finish you off," he finished as he formed a cylinder and aimed it. Kurotsuchi was just barely fast enough to dodge the jutsu from her own arsenal.

Before Zurui could try again, a giant snake came from the ground and said, "Mission Accomplished. Time to return to base. Now."

"Come on, I was just about to finish an enemy off," Zurui said before he sighed and said, "Fine."

And before Kurotsuchi could do or say anything, Zuirui leapt into the snake's mouth and the snake burrowed hastily under the ground.

…

"It is time to bring this battle to an end," Madara said as his Susanoo swung its sword at Minato, who hastily avoided the attack, Fukasaku and Shima looking on with worried expressions. The sword cut very deeply into the ground, and caused a small earthquake as it created a sizable fissure, causing Minato and his passengers to gape. "Impressed?" Madara asked. "This is the same jutsu, along with the Kyuubi that created the valley where Hashirama and I had our final battle. The Final Susanoo is like a force of nature in itself."

"Minato-boy, we can give you some of our chakra in addition to Sage Energy, but I don't see what we can do in this situation!" Fukasaku said.

"There is one jutsu I have that may have enough power to destroy that thing and give me a chance to seal Madara for good," Minato replied. "Juice me as much as you can. We will only get one shot at this, and we have to end this before the collateral damage becomes too great."

"Understood!" Shima said as she and Fukasaku poured their reserves into Minato, who formed two Shadow Clones while giving as little chakra to them as possible. He then created a Rasenlance and his two clones added wind fire chakra, causing the Rasenlance to burst into fanned flames.

"Well now, let's see how you handle this," Madara said as the Susanoo made to stomp on the blonde, who threw a kunai into the air and flashed to it.

"Try this!" Minato shouted. "Inferno Rasenlance!" He threw the jutsu at Madara, and the blazing drill ground into the Final Susanoo's chest. For a moment, the defense held, but then began to crack. Madara looked shocked that his Finall Susanoo was starting to crumble, and more cracks were appearing at every moment. Madara growled as he found himself forced to dispel the jutsu and activate Preta Path to absorb the jutsu. He landed back on the ground after the absorption was done and glared up in time to see a regular Rasenlance flying at him.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Fool. I will just absorb this one too," Madara said as he reactivated Preta Path and the Raesenlance impacted it, before it was obscured by a burst of smoke. "What?" The Rasenlance was gone, to be replaced with Minato. "A Transformation Jutsu!" Madara realized as Minato blasted his sage powered fist through Madara's chest. "Damn you!" Madara shouted as Edo Tensei flakes flew everywhere.

**(A/N: OST Gehika plays)**

"This is it, the end!" Minato declared as his Sage Mode faded, due to him not having enough of his own chakra remaining to balance the natural energy. The two toads wished him luck before they disappeared. Minato yanked out the bottle he had failed to seal Madara with before and once again chains wrapped around the regenerating Madara.

_"No, I can't use Susanoo to get free until I finish regenerating, but I won't get that opportunity, and Preta Path won't work either in this state. I have played all of my cards," _Madara thought in frustration. "It seems… that I lose to another Hokage," Madara said in irritation as the chains pulled him into the bottle. Once Madara was fully inside, Minato slammed the top back onto the bottle and drew a few more seals on it to keep Madara tightly sealed within.

"I… I beat him," Minato said with barely concealed disbelief. He sat down hard and laughed at his success. "That's what happens when you mess with the Yondaime Hokage!" he declared gleefully.

**(A/N: End OST)**

But then his senses picked up a slight hissing before he whipped around and used his Hiraishin kunai to cut the head off of a snake that had just tried to inject him with a deadly venom. He could not celebrate however, because another small snake got its mouth around the sealing bottle and was making a break for it right then and there.

Desperately, Minato took out a kunai and threw it at the snake.

…

Kabuto gave a small smirk as he and the rest of the Akatsuki that attacked Iwa was currently heading back to a hideout. "Summoning Jutsu," he said. There was a burst of smoke.

…

Minato stared at the kunai that was now embedded in the ground where the snakes head had been an instant ago. But just before the said kunai had hit, the snake had been summoned. Furious, Minato threw his head up and shouted his anger at the sky, before slamming his fist onto the ground.

…

"Before we talk, there is one thing," Naruto said to Nagato, who raised an eyebrow.

"And that is?" Nagato asked as Naruto tossed the chakra receiving rod Kurama had yanked out earlier to the ground right in front of Nagato. Then he Hiraishinned to it, to the shock of Nagato and Konan, who did not realize he had marked it. Before Nagato could react, Naruto had his hand on his head, Rinnegan active.

"Nagato!" Konan shouted, sure that Naruto was going to use Human Path and extract Nagato's soul.

"Uugh," Nagato said as Naruto used Human Path and began to funnel his own memories into Nagato's mind. He started with the memories of his previous fight with Pain and of his first meeting with Nagato. He continued with several memories of his training with B to master Kurama's chakra, and of the fight he and B had with Tsunade and the Raikage, and his promise not to fail those who counted on him.

Then the memories proceeded to the meeting he and B had with Itachi and Nagato and the proceeding fight, followed by more memories of the war, and of the fight with the Juubi. He showed Nagato Neji's death and Hinata reminding him who he was. Then Sasuke had sacrificed himself after all Naruto had done to try to save him. The battle with the Juubi had ended poorly, and Naruto had come very, very close into falling into the depths of despair when just about everything had been gone. The pain of losing everything had been almost too much.

But Felix had given Naruto another chance to change things, and Naruto jumped on it, and after another sixteen years, they were here again. Naruto remove his hand from Nagato's head and the other Uzumaki slumped, before looking up at Naruto.

"You were right," Naruto told Nagato. "I did experience a great deal of pain on the road I took. Some of it really did almost change me."

"But it didn't, did it? Naruto…" Nagato said as he looked up at Naruto in understanding after having experienced so much Naruto had. "You had so much more strength than I could ever wish for, and you kept your word, your guarantee that you would not change…"

"Nagato, what is going on?" Konan asked in surprise.

"Konan, please allow Naruto to use Human Path on you as well," Nagato replied.

Konan looked from Nagato to Naruto and back, doubt evident in her eyes before she saw the sure look in Nagato's face and stepped forward. Within a minute, she had seen all the things Nagato had.

"But how?" she asked Naruto once the process was complete on her as well. "How could you make a decision to turn time back and live this all over again? Were you not afraid of failing, of going through the loss of everything again?"

"I won't deny that I felt that possibility, and at one point, I might have hesitated," Naruto replied. "But what I said to Obito, that it hurt more to never have had bonds than to lose the bonds you had, I meant. Even if I did fail this time around, even if I had to experience the pain of losing those that were precious to me again, I wanted to have them again, because it would ultimately hurt less that way."

"I see," she said, understanding where Naruto was coming from.

"Now it comes to this, where I take the road you have shown me once again," Nagato said as his hands came free of the chair.

Nagato formed the seals of his jutsu, and Konan shouted fearfully, "Nagato, you already used a good deal of chakra, and if you try to revive so many people at once, it will almost surely kill you again! Even if you survive, it will shorten your own life by a great deal!"

"I'm not going to change my mind Konan," Nagato said. "The path we have walked up to now has been the wrong one, but this is my chance to make amends for what we have done to this village at least… I do not regret doing this last time and I will not regret doing it again."

"I can help with that," Naruto said, and before Nagato could react, Naruto donned his Bijuu Cloak and placed his hand on the Rinnegan user's head. "Activate your Preta Path," Naruto instructed. A little confused, Nagato did as Naruto asked.

Much of the chakra from Naruto's cloak was absorbed into Nagato, and Nagato gasped in shock as every part of his body felt rejuvenated to a point that he had not felt in years. Nagato's emaciated frame began to fill out, and his flesh forced out the chakra rods embedded in his body. Without further ado, Nagato recast the seals and stated, "Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life!"

…

In the center of Kumo, the King of Hell appeared and opened its maw wide. Countless bursts of life force flew out of the mouth and each one sought out a fallen shinobi of Kumo. One by one, the deceased were revived by the jutsu, and those who had survived to that point where confused as to what was happening.

…

An exhausted Samui held the corpse of her hot headed brother close to her, sobbing as she mourned him and cursed Derek with every fiber of her being. Then Atsui's body glowed briefly, and Samui nearly had a heart attack when his eyes opened as if he had only been taking a nap, his wounds gone.

"What hit me?" Atsui asked blearily as he gazed at his sister, who stared right back before fainting like an academy school girl.

…

Omoi kneeled next to the bodies of C and Karui, wiping his tears away. During the fight with the centipede, another one of them had blindsided the hotheaded girl and impaled her on one of its mandibles.

He was just wondering what he was going to tell B, when Karui and C both glowed for a second and Karui was the first to rise. "Guh, what happened?" she asked as Omoi looked at her for a second before he put his hands on his head and shouted in a panic, "Gaah, Karui is a zombie now! Now she is sizing me up like a piece of meat, what if she bites me and I become a zombie too!? And what if I go on to infect the world with this plague!? Arrgh!"

Karui just looked on with sweat drops as Omoi ran away before she got to her feet and shouted at her teammate, "You get your ass back here, you moron! Do I **look **like a slobbering corpse to you!?" The spittle that flew from her mouth kind of contradicted her argument.

"What's going on and why are you shouting?" C asked as he blearily got to a sitting position.

Karui gave a small start before she turned to slowly face C. Then she took off like the devil was after her, screaming, "ZOMBIE!"

"What in-?" C demanded in confusion as he stared at the dust cloud the red headed hot head left behind.

…

Back in the cave with Naruto, Nagato slumped back into the mechanized chair, exhausted despite the chakra Naruto had given him. "What did you do to me?" Nagato asked as he looked at his no longer emaciated body. Konan could only stare in amazement.

"All Uzumaki have a healing factor and long life spans," Naruto said. "I learned that you were a part of the clan from Sasuke, who was told about a few members by Kabuto in the future timeline. And the healing factor we have is increased by a Bijuu's chakra. All it took was a little of Kurama's to rejuvenate you to a point where you could get away with using the Samsara of Heavenly Life with no consequences besides chakra exhaustion. It also seems to have restored your body to a better state. That happened when you fought B and me before and absorbed some of his chakra."

"I see," Nagato said. Then he placed his hands on the edges of his mechanized chair.

"Nagato, what-," Konan started before she was shocked to see the chair open and Nagato shakily stood up out of it. The damage that Hanzo had done to his legs all those years ago was now completely gone. "You can walk again…" Konan said in wonder.

"But it seems as though I still need to regain my muscle memory before I can do so efficiently," Nagato said as he collapsed onto the ground. "But I shall manage."

Naruto grinned before he took on a serious expression. "You guys better get going. Even if you revived everyone in the village, Kumo shinobi will almost surely be out for your blood until I can explain things to them."

"Thank you, Naruto Namikaze," Nagato said.

…

"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee shouted, but Caius easily avoided the attack and kicked Lee in the gut with his enhanced strength. The spandex wearer coughed up blood and flew back, but rcovered quickly enough to rush around to try attacking Caius from behind. Caius simply kept stepping back and deflecting Le's blows.

"You are fast kid, I will give you that," Caius sad as he rammed his fist into Lee's gut. "But I," he slammed his elbow into the back of Lee's head. "Have been," he kicked Lee's chin and knocked him up. "Fighting several similar styles," He punched Lee in the cheek and blasted him through a building wall. "Before you were even born!" he finished as he surveyed the damage he had caused. "Your style is way too obvious and straight forward, and that makes it all too easy to counter your blows when I know what you will do next. You haven't even been able to touch me during the last five minutes."

He stepped through the hole in the wall after Lee, and noticed that the taijutsu specialist's head had blasted through the side of a wine barrel. And the glugging sound made it clear that Lee was gulping down the beverage.

**A/N: Now, to my reviewers.**

**Mellra:**

**Well, things have gotten more complicated now that Madara has wind of Naruto and the gang's plans. Wonder how Minato will be able to defeat him/keep him quiet, if he can? Looking forward to next chapter and have a happy Labor Day! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Thank you for the Labor Day wish, though that particular day delayed this story. Shame Minato did not prevent Madara from sticking around.**

**Akatsukicolin:**

**Wow! Amazing chapter! Does Madara now know about the time travel due to the genjustu he used on Onoki? Anyway, looking forward to the climax of all the fights! Keep up the hard work!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yep, he knows now. Things are going to get a little more complex now. **

**SkyRune:**

**rasEnshur1Ken-sama, I know that you want to try and save everyone in this story, but try to consider people dying in it for a more realistic feel for the story. I was also wondering if you could have Hinata say a line (that Orihime (Bleach) said to Ichigo) about falling in love with the same person five times in a climatic battle with Naruto. I just really love that line and I hope that you can use something like that in the coming chapters. and on a final not, a filler chapter at the Hot Springs. think about it. U can do it. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Don't worry, there will be more character death in later chapters. The reason that not very many people died yet is because for the most part, Naruto and the gang had a decent understanding on what was going to happen, and they got lucky, but now that the path will almost completely diverge from the previous timeline and shit will hit the fan, several characters will be dying. As for the line you mentioned, I will think about it, but I have little interest in filler chapters I did not already plan on. This story is already going to be getting long.**

**Arniecar145:**

**Sorry man. Too much time on my job and since i have a car now, I can't read on my way to work like I used to. But yeah, great chapter. Madara's a beast, I'll admit. Even though i hate him lol. That susanoo's pretty badass. I really wanna see how Naruto convinces Nagato.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, you are right about the Susanoo. I hate Madara too, but he makes a good opponent, so I will keep him around a bit longer.**

**falcoknights:**

**Keep up the good work... i can't wait to see how minato gets out of this one and brings down madara and the conclusion of suna. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Hope you are not disappointed by what happened with Minato and Madara.**

**Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros:**

**Another excellent chapter! I really want Minato to win by the way. I'm really tempted to think up some Justu or Spell for my "Mage of Six Paths" story that will allow someone to destroy a soul so they can't be brought back... **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Sure that would be morally wise? Destroying an existence would be rather cruel.**

**gameipedia:**

**Shit is getting serious, can't wait for when everyone goes super serious boss mode. :) **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Hope you have fun reading about Lee vs Caius next chappie!**

**mrj97:**

**Thanks for another great chapter :D **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You're quite welcome.**

**cook563:**

**Yes but i know that Madara is too smart to be tricked into doing that. i hope Minato survives but not every story has a happy ending. keep up the great work and i'm looking forward to your next.**

** since Nagato didn't kill to many people this time around what will happen after he realizes the 'true' way to peace? **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**What did you think of the ending to that fight?**

**Blazingen1:**

**Shouldn't Minato Be able to do the jikuukan kekai thing like he did with the bijuudama when he vs kyuubi? **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, that's what he did to the meteors. **

**Titokhan:**

**action, action everywhere.. so much that our author can't get details from some of the grand multi location melee in a single chapter.. but with as many fights that all broke out at once, that's to be expected.**

** Now Minato has to show that sage chakra seal to Naruto, then things will REALLY get interesting **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Naruto already has his own method of increasing the duration of Sage Mode with Kurama's help if you remember. **

**Redsox31:**

**Really good battle between Madara and Minato, though I'm starting to think Madara is cheating with all these damn powers he has.**

** Also, very glad to hear Shika will be featured in the next chapter.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, Madara is a really tough nut, nut being in more than one sense. Cookie if you can guess who Shika and Temari's current foe is.**

**Death-Prince-3:**

**Series...ending...You mean to tell us that...this GOD SEND of a fic is nearing it's end...? or am I misunderstanding here? Anywho great chapter once again! Though I AM curious as to what exactly was at the island and what importance it had but, it's probably nothing. And I love the way you have Ero-Sennin acting to...raise Moral? Or am I off base entirely? And I loved the Storm 3 OST track near the end! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**The story won't be ending soon, I just anticipate it being a while before my review average goes up. What was at the island Minato destroyed was just a stockpile of tools he had in case of emergency. And the money he saved up for his and Kushina's retirement, I'll give you one guess how she will react when she finds out about that loss. And Jiraiya did that to be dramatic. **

**AnisoulJ93:**

**I thought your your review average would be higher than that. I suddenly feel like gloating! But I'm not going to. If I had to guess why you have a low review average it's probably because you have so many oc's no one knows who's who anymore. The fight scene's though were pretty good. Minato's fighting twenty complete Susanoo now. A tricky situation but then I think Minato has a way to win as well. All he really has to do is get the original out of the Susanoo and lay a good hit on him. Of course Madara would just reform but while he's doing that is a perfect time to reseal him. Which is another point. Madara knows he can't die and in the manga/anime he capitalizes on that, detroying himself with his own attack, knowing he can reform afterwards. But the period where he reforms leaves an opening, and if Minato can take advantage of that then he has a shot of winning. And don't let them get Roshi! I want Roshi to appear in a story as a chef. I have no Idea why, but I have mini daydreams where he appears roasting stuff over his lava. But I can't fit him into my story and I'm not starting a new one just for that. Anyways, still a good story but too many Oc's.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Oh, go ahead and gloat. I saw the stories and the amount of reviews they had, and you earned the right. What did you think of the finish between Minato and Madara? Did you really think Minato had actually taken care of Madara for good? I did promise a fight between him and Sasuke and Itachi, so taking him out of the picture this early was not an option.**

**Wow, I still have a long way to go before all the fights I wanted to do are over. Hopefully, I can wrap this up in three, maybe four more chapters. At any rate, please Review!**


	68. Chapter 67: The Truth

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N:Let me tell you, the Drunk Lee scene was fun to write, as was the scene between Isaac and Tobi.**

**Chapter 67:The Truth**

**(A/N: OST Jiraiya's Theme plays)**

"Uhgg, wha's goin' on?" Lee asked as he pulled his head out of the wine keg. "Where am I? Hic!"

"Hmph, pathetic," Caius said as he approached the drunk taijutsu-user. "You're too drunk to fight or even remember where you are. I suppose I should finish you off now while you are weak." He raised a fist and swung it at Lee, who rose before swaying out of the way.

"Wha' are ya starin' at? Shtop shtaring at me! I's very uncomfortable, and rude! Ya big fat jerk!" Lee said as he swayed out of the way of another punch from Caius, who was frowning. Lee then did a cartwheel around to get behind Caius and kicked the Shikkokyo in the back of the head in the midst of the motion. Caius grunted as he flew forward before he broke his fall with his hands and flipped back to his feet.

"What was that? He's even faster than he was before!" Caius said as Lee rushed him again and leapt with both feet leading as he spun through the air. Caius caught the feet, stopping Lee's momentum, only for the taijutsu-using chunin to bend his body abruptly forward and upward and slam the top of his head against Caius's forehead. Caius winced before he threw a punch at Lee's torso, keeping a grip on one of the boy's legs. The blow connected and Lee's breath left him in a whoosh as he was flung back, and landed on his face, butt comically rising in the air.

"Ooowww, that hurt, ya jerk!" Lee said as Caius attacked him by leaping above him, aiming to break his spine with a shattering kick. Lee caterpillar crawled away and Caius smashed the ground where Lee had just been laying. Caius growled and threw another kick, but Lee did the same dodge as before, and got to his feet as Caius charged. "Hey, hic, I am a catapilla, now I will fly like a buttafly!" Lee said as he leapt up, flapping his arms and got above Caius and slammed both of his feet down on the guy's back and sent him sprawling.

"Just my luck," Caius said as he lifted his face out of the dirt. "The one style I know of that I could never read in several centuries, and he happens to be very good at it!" He spat out a bit of dirt and turned to face Lee, who was in his rather unbalanced drunken fist poses. "And with the amount of alcohol he consumed, he is at his peak."

"Ha ha, ain't that a strange place to take a nap, mista, hic, eh, wha' was yer name again?"

"Shut up, you stupid brat!" Caius shouted as he leapt to his feet and cast several hand signs. "Shikkokyo Secret Jutsu: The Darkness of Death!" The light seemed to fade from the area and the temperature plummeted to less than zero degrees.

"Wha' the?" Lee askedin confusion as he whipped around, shivering slightly. "I can't see! An' I can't hear!"

Caius couldn't suppress a smirk as he imagined how drunken Lee would be reacting to the predicament right about now. This jutsu basically created a zone where all within would have their five senses cut off from the world. They could not see, hear, smell, taste, and all they would feel would be cold. It would be as if they were dead, hence the name. While one might think that Caius would be in the same boat, he had a personal remedy for the effects on him. He took out a few prayer beads and closed his eyes as he conjured several spirits that had been trapped within the beads.

The dead spirits slowly flowed into Caius, and shared a sensory ability they had with him. The corrupt souls had the special ability to sense the fear of the living, and such fear was particularly strong in settings like these, even if a foe was drunk. Sure enough, Caius sensed the surprisingly mild terror of Lee and moved towards it as he unsealed a simple scythe and swung at the source of the terror. However, the source moved at the last instant and Caius frowned and swung again, figuring that it was a lucky move on Lee's part and his eyes widened as Lee shifted out of the way again.

With an unheard snarl, Caius began attacking with a vengeance with his tool, but despite the lack of sensory input, Lee seemed to be able to avoid each and every attack based on instinct alone. Then the darkness faded as the zone disappeared. One of the downsides to Caius's jutsu was that it only lasted for a minute, thus requiring him to kill a foe rather fast. The moment Lee had his senses back, he gazed unfocusedly at Caius and said, "Where, di' you come from, hic?"

Caius shouted with frustration and swung his scythe again, but Lee jumped and literally stood on the flat of it and rode it to the side and slammed his foot into Caius's temple, causing the Shikkokyo to go flying in a slight daze. Lee landed and shouted, "Hooooowaaaaaaaahhh!"

…

"Coming at me with a carrot stick?" Isaac said as he avoided Tobi's rather comical swings. "I thought I was crazy. Here's a real weapon!" With that, Isaac whipped out an onion and smashed it into Tobi's masked face.

"Arrgh, you made Tobi tear up with that mean trick!" Tobi shouted as anime tears poured out of his eye hole.

"You know what they say about onions?" Isaac asked as he took out several more and threw them at Tobi, who was dodging at a frantic pace. "If you're not crying, you're not trying!"

"Tobi hates onions!" Tobi shouted as he burrowed and came out of the ground behind Isaac. "Ninja Art: Whack a Mole Jutsu!" he shouted as he swung with the carrot stick and missed as Isaac dodged, turned around and whacked Tobi with a mallet he got from who knows where.

**(A/N: While Isaac generally has his head on straight against a serious opponent, can anyone call Tobi serious?)**

"You're playing the game wrong!" Tobi bellowed at Isaac with a lump on his head.

"Really?" Isaac replied in mock confusion. "Because I thought that the mole was the one who gets whacked, and you seem to have reversed said roles in the game."

Tobi did a double take before doing a depressed slump with a shadow over his head. "Tobi is such a bad boy, getting the rules wrong… oh I know how to fix it! You be the mole! Tobi's a good boy again and gets to hit mean onion guy!"

"Whoa, back up, there is no way I am being the mo- ach!" the last part was due to the fact that Isaac had forgotten where the hole that Tobi had left in the ground was and had backed right into it.

"Ha, ha, you make a good mole to whack!" Tobi said in jubilation as he warped away and came back with a mailbox freshly pulled free of the ground. "Ninja Art: Corrected Whack a Mole Jutsu- eh?" Tobi said as he took a closer look at Isaac, who had been replaced by a rather poorly made dummy in the hole, and the word sucker was written on the forehead. Then the dummy's head exploded, covering Tobi in a cloud that smelled strongly of rotten eggs.

"Gaah, Tobi smells like a hobo now!"

"That is insulting hobos in general, but yes, you do smell bad from here," Isaac laughed from a rooftop, waving around the mailbox Tobi had used as a weapon smugly. That was, until the flap opened up and revealed several exploding tags. "Oh shi-."

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

Felix was running to try to draw Drakmus a good distance from the main area of the village. Though Naruto had evacuated the civilians, Felix knew that any more mass property damage than was absolutely necessary would not be appreciated, and there were still Sunashinobi around that he did not want to make collateral damage in a personal fight.

**(A/N: OST Anger plays)**

Unfortunately, Drakmus in his full demon form was a little faster than Felix, even when the Yoshoryuu was pushing Sage Mode to its limit. As a result, he was able to catch up and swing a full blow at the green haired knight from behind. Felix was forced to whip around and block the blow on his sword, though he was still flung back with a lot of force, luckily in the same direction he was trying to lure Drakmus. Felix landed smoothly and ducked as Drakmus materialized behind him and swung his claws at Felix's head. Felix rolled forward and used a burst of wind chakra to propel himself away from another attack. He then sent a Thundering Gale Slash at Drakmus, who blocked with his bare hand.

"What's the matter Felix?" Drakmus asked as he observed with mild interest that his hand had been cut slightly by Felix's attack. "Regretting the fact that you failed to kill me all those years ago?"

"No," Felix replied as he cast several hand seals. "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!" The ground beneath Drakmus was afflicted by the jutsu and the part demon was forced to leap away, but Felix had already finished another set of seals. "Wind Style: Crushing Air Pressure!" The air above Drakmus compressed and he was pushed down by the jutsu and into the swamp. "I regret letting Victor get his hands on you and twisting your thoughts."

"Give me a damn break already!" Drakmus shouted as he conjured Hellfire to burn the swamp away from him and fire a few balls of it at Felix, who extended his hand and used his chakra to disperse them before they could get close enough to burn. Drakmus then charged Felix, who took the full force of the impact of Drakmus's shoulder in his chest, and one of the demon's spines impaled him through the gut. "You are the one who caused me to fall into despair and realize that bonds are useless!" Felix simply slumped before a small burst of electricity came from his body.

There was a flash of lightning and Drakmus was flung back by the explosion, having realized that Felix had switched with a Lightning Clone. "You're right," Felix said. "A lot of responsibility is on my shoulders for what happened in the past. We were so close that when Victor took advantage of that bond to break you by making you think it was a false one, your world shattered."

"What the hell are you saying!?" Drakmus demanded. "Don't pretend that you were ever my friend! You only pretended to be because your own father ordered it of you!" Drakmus fired a few more shots of Hellfire at Felix, who dispersed them again and charged Drakmus, forming a few seals as he did.

"Water Style: Water Wave Jutsu!" A wave of water burst from Felix's mouth and bore down on Drakmus.

"That won't bother me!" Drakmus shouted as he ran right into the water, easily moving through it despite the amount of force that was behind the wave.

"Lightning Style," Drakmus heard Felix say and he then realized what Felix was doing. "Dragon Storm Jutsu!" Felix channeled a high level lightning jutsu directly into the water and raised the conductivity of the water to a level that would fry most enemies. Drakmus was only given a few shock burns that irritated him as he burst from the water and slashed Felix across the gut. Felix staggered back and hastily fired a powerful fire jutsu directly into Drakmus's face, causing the beast to stagger back for a second.

Felix made a run for it clutching his fresh wound and Drakmus ran after him, pissed now.

"Markus, Victor had a false memory implanted in your mind to manipulate you," Felix said as he skidded to a halt and leapt to the side to let Drakmus dash right by where he was. "It was a memory that made you think that I lied about the bond we once had. And every time you tried to remember the good times we had together, the memory would trigger, drowning out those good memories, as well as triggering anger."

"You must be desperate if you think I am going to believe that," Drakmus replied as he launched a boulder at Felix, who formed an earth wall to block it.

"This is far enough from anything important," Felix decided as he stabbed his sword into the ground. "Elemental Style: Dragon Ruler of All Elements!" Said jutsu sprung to life and towered over the majority of the area.

"Are you a fool?!" Drakmus demanded as he formed a Demonic Devastation Sphere and shouted, "I can destroy this in an instant! You wasted your effort!" He fired the sphere, and true to his word, it demolished the dragon and caused a large explosion. But that was Felix's plan. While he and Drakmus were blinded by the blast, he dashed around behind Drakmus and slapped his hand on the back of his head.

"Reverse Pulse Imprint Jutsu," Felix said, activating the variant of the jutsu that allowed the user to put one of their own memories into someone else's mind and poured the memory he had taken from Victor into Drakmus's head.

….

Kankuro guided Crow out of the way of a strike from his opponent's mechanical tail, though Salamander was not so lucky, and its head was taken off by another strike. Kankuro growled and had Crow fire off several kunai and senbon that were merely deflected by Sasori's tail. But Black Ant attacked from below and knocked Sasori up into the air and caught him within it.

"Secret Black Move: Iron Maiden!" Kankuro shouted as Crow disassembled and revealed several blades that went straight into the Black Ant. But when he saw that sand was pouring out of the Black Ant, he realized that he had been had.

Sasori attacked Kankuro from behind with his tail and seemingly impaled the puppet user, before he was engulfed in smoke and replaced with Crow. "Interesting, using a Substitution Jutsu with your puppets to compensate for the weakness of close combat you have," Sasori said with interest. "You get away from a foe and put them up against a puppet in the process. I should have thought of that."

"You're a Puppet Master too?" Kankuro asked in surprise, though that did not stop him from having Crow wrap its arms around the tail and put a few of its limbs in the ground to anchor itself as well. This was to give Black Ant an opening to fire a poison smoke bomb and several poisoned senbon as well. But when the smoke cleared, Sasori was unharmed, except for a few scratches in his cloak that showed that his body underneath was not human. Kankuro's eyes widened in shock.

"Not just a Puppet Master, but one who is applauded as one of the greatest and one who made several of the puppets that the unit that specializes in the art use today."

"You're… Sasori of the Red Sands?!" Kankuro exclaimed.

"That is correct. I must say, it is amusing fighting one who is using designs that I myself once made. But I have a battle to end." Sasori wrenched his tail free from Crow and disassembled the puppet with a few swift blows from the tail before zoning in on Black Ant. Kankuro's puppet was quickly destroyed and Sasori zoned in with his tail to finish Kankuro off. Before his tail could impale the Kazekage's son however, the appendage stopped as it was held back by a chakra string that was attached to it.

"Well, how nice of you to join us, Granny Chiyo," Sasori said as he turned his gaze to the withered woman.

"Chiyo-Sensei, what took you so long?" Kankuro asked.

"Kankuro, instead of messing around with your older puppets, why don't you try to bring out the puppet you made under my tutelage?" Chiyo replied.

"But it's not finished yet! I am still working out a few kinks!" Kankuro protested.

"Your old puppets will do no good against the one who designed them in the first place, so you need to use the one original you have."

"Oh, so you have taken on a new student then, Granny?" Sasori said.

"That's right, mainly because of his brother guilt tripping me by pointing out how badly I botched his seal, though the fact that he mentioned that you were a part of the Akatsuki helped convince me," Chiyo replied. "As for why I took so long to get here to assist you Kankuro, I lacked the means to break through Sasori's outer puppet, Hiruko, so I had to find a little help."

Before Sasori could react to Chiyo's claim to have gotten assistance, a certain pink head smashed her fist into the carapace of Hiruko from above.

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

"Shadow Possession Jutsu success," Shikamaru said as his and Temari's opponent struggled to escape from the Nara's jutsu. It had not been easy catching this opponent, as he had been fast and very adaptable, but eventually, he had bee lured to a part of the village where several buildings had been rather run down, and as such, where easy for Temari to use her wind jutsu to break the walls apart and knock a few pieces of rubble between him and Shikamaru, allowing him to use plenty of shadows to catch the Uchiha off guard. "Temari, do you mind finding someone here who knows the Cloth Binding Jutsu to subdue this guy for us? I can hold this for about four more minutes, so make it fast."

"Got it!" Temari said as she leapt in the general direction of the main body of Suna troops fighting Caius's Chimeras, which had arrived to fight a few minutes prior. Before she got too far however, she was suddenly burning in black flames. Screaming, she fell down.

**(A/N: OST Stalemate plays)**

"Temari!" Shikamaru shouted and his gaze turned back to see that the Uchiha's Sharingan had gone from three tomoe to a sort of upside down Y shape but with a circle in the center where the lines met. "Mangekyo Sharingan!" Shikamaru said, but it was too late to do anything about it. Before he could react any further, he too ended up being burned by Amatarasu flames.

"I am interested that you know of the greatest stage of my clan's dojutsu, but I should end your misery now," the Uchiha said as he stood over Shikamaru and raised his sword to finish the job. However, the black flames suddenly dispersed, and two skeletal violet hands of chakra grabbed Temari and Shikamaru and pulled them away from their opponent. "What in?"

"Sasuke, your timing is downright amazing," Shikamaru said. Sure enough, Sasuke was the one who had gotten the two out of their situation. "How did you even know we were here?"

"A clone of Naruto tipped me off that you guys were fighting a member of my clan and I couldn't contain my interest," Sasuke said, standing in a casual manner that was belied by the activation of his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and the swords he had out. "Good thing too, because it looked like you were hosed before I came."

"Another wielder of the Mangekyo Sharingan," the Uchiha said, looking interested as Sasuke formed two Shadow Clones and directed them to take Shikamaru and Temari away from the battlefield.

"Eternal Mangekyo actually, but since you are an Edo Tensei, you also don't have to worry about the blindness issue that comes with the power," Sasuke said.

"You're right about that," the Uchiha said as his right eye bled and Amaterasu was cast at Sasuke, who got coated in the fire. "And you should have kept your guard up."

"It was up," Sasuke replied as the flames dispersed, surprising his opponent. "It seems that you can only cast Amatarasu, you cannot actually control the flames. That gives me a natural advantage over you."

The Uchiha merely growled as he held his blade ready to fight and Sasuke got into his own kenjutsu stance with his two swords. "I've been looking for a decent opponent to try this style I developed on," Sasuke said eagerly.

….

Naruto's main clone in Suna snarled as he had a few problems landing a cut on the revived Orochimaru with Seishinhoruda due to Orochimaru's own kenjutsu skill and his ability to shed his skin to escape very time he used Bansho Tenin. He locked Seishinhoruda with Orochimaru's Kusanagi Blade and they struggled for a moment, before Naruto kicked Orochimaru away and closed in with his sword. _"Just one good stab is all I need," _Naruto thought as he thrust the sword forward. Then a sort of black sand wrapped around his arms and flung him away. "What the?" Naruto thought in frustration as he flipped for his landing and saw a black haired man that was also clearly an Edo Tensei step up to Orochimaru.

"Kukuku, Sandaime Kazekage, I never expected to see you except as one of Sasori's favorite puppets again," Orochimaru laughed. "My thanks for the assist."

"Cut the crap Orochimaru," the Sandaime replied. "The only reason you got any help form me was because of my unruly body right now. Boy, look out!" More of the Kazekage's iron sand rushed at Naruto, who decided it was high time he shelved Sage Mode and drew on Kurama. Before he could however, a wave of gold dust assaulted the iron sand and Orochimaru found himself dodging regular sand in a hurry.

…..

"Do you understand it now Markus?" Felix asked the part demon who was on his four hands and his knees panting. "Victor was the one who deceived you all those years ago. The friendship we once shared was real and he took that from you to break you."

Drakmus got up and snarled at Felix and said, "All this has done is made me even more sure that this world is too full of lies to distinguish the truth or lies anymore."

"What?" Felix asked as Drakmus glared at him with the eyes of one who was truly shattered at this point.

"I have been lied to by either you or Victor, but I don't know who lied! For all I know, the memory you showed me was artificial and implanted in your own mind to fool me! Why, why must I be forced to choose what to believe!?How am I supposed to know what the truth is anymore!?" Drakmus shouted, tears flying from his eyes as he rushed at Felix, intent on driving his claws through his former friend's heart.

Felix charged Drakmus as well and for a moment time slowed as the tip of Elemental Infinity touched Drakmus's right hip, exactly where the scar Felix had given Drakmus all those years ago began. At the same time, the tip of the claws of Drakmus's foremost right hand touched the skin of Felix's chest right over his heart. Their eyes met in that moment of slowed time and in that instant, their thoughts were conveyed to each other before their momentum carried them the rest of the way through their strikes.

They stood for a moment with their backs to each other before blood gushed from their wounds, and they both sank to their knees, Felix bleeding from the area over his heart, and Drakmus having been cut exactly along the scar he carried.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: Author Art: Cliffhanger Jutsu! (Dodges a barrage of unrealistically sized objects thrown by the audience) Er, let's move on to the review responses!**

**Helen delia:**

**wow..what can I say...your story is way awesome...you have everything in your story:drama, and many comical moments (those scenes are very funny)...anyway did madara get away? will obito became a good guy again? will drakmus became a good guy again? will raizen and caius be killed?**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Thanks for the compliments. Yes, Madara got away. To answer your question with Drakmus, his fate will depend on a new poll. I won't spoil anything else for you.**

**Guest:**

**I thought that you were going to spare Yugito, and yet you allowed the bad guys to capture her!1**

** also, HURRY UP WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER AS I WANT TO SEE WHETHER OR NOT YOU WILL HAVE LEE'S NOW ACTIVE "DRUNKEN FIST" KICK CAIUS'S ASS! (AND READ THE COMEDY INVOLVING LEE'S DRUNKEN MOVEMENTS)**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I am going to spare Yugito, she will get back to Kumo alive. I won't go into details.**

**cook563:**

**The final fight was great, still think Naruto should have killed Kabuto when he had the chance during the chunin exams again but oh well. wonder what will happen to Nagato and Konan now. maybe you can have them join Konoha and help train Naruto and Hinata. keep up the great work and i'll be looking forward to your next chapter where you'll have drunk Lee kick some a$$.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Nah, they are going back to Ame. **

**mistertstewart:**

**Awesome chapter but damn Kabuto for interfering. I would have marked the bottle so I could Hiraishin to it if I were Minato, but your way makes for a more interesting story. And since Madara knows about the alternate timeline, shit it really gonna hit the fan. Quick question. In your story, does Naruto have the full Kyuubi or half of it? And will we see others with a bijuu cloak mode similar to Naruto's?**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Minato was so low on chakra he could not do much to the bottle, so the tag was out. Naruto has half of Kurama.**

**Redsox31:**

**Too bad Tobi has no children, he seems like he would be a great father. I'm very disappointed in Minato, beating Madara only to then be outdone by a couple of snakes.**

** Also, I would guess Shika and Temari are either fighting Fugaku or Shisui, but I'm leaning towards Shisui.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Cut Minato some slack, he had just beaten Madara, he was too exhausted to worry about a few snakes.**

**Arniecar145:**

**Haha! Poor Minato. And Lee. Oh shit. It's about to get real. Tobi...is Tobi...it's worse when you already know who he is ha! Man great chapter.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Hope you enjoyed the drunk Lee smackdown!**

**mellra:**

**Oh. God. NO! It's drunken Lee! Run for your life! (Jumps out of 5 story window). I'm okay! Anyway, great chapter and darn it the bad guy got away again! Oh well, you made up for it with the funny funny zombie scene. Can't wait to see more!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I'll save you! (Runs up with trampoline) Oh look, a quarter! (Stops to pick up said coin and lets mellra hit the ground. Slowly and sheepishly turns to face said angry reviewer) Sorry…?**

**Titokhan:**

**Forgot about Kurama collecting the chakra to extend sage mode. but any advantage he can get would allow Kurama's chakra to be used doing other things (more clones, and so on and so forth)..**

** Shikamaru and Temari's opponent, theres a few Uchiha to choose from, and given he/dhe didn't immediately ramp up to MS/EMS, I suspect Fugaku is the undead Uchiha in question.**

** Even with the elder dimension help, I suspect they might a little help unsealing Edo-madara. Minato's seals aren't easy nuts to crack.**

** Omoi, then Kauri's reactions to revivals was priceless..**

** a seal that steals bloodlines.. interesting.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Well, Minato was a little low on chakra, so his sealing of Madara will still be tough, but breakable. The Uchiha in question does have Mangekyo Sharingan, so it's not Fugaku, though I plan to use him later.**

**AnisoulJ93:**

**Gloatings bad manners. The fights were good, although all the transitioning between the seperate fights can get a little confusing. totally called it for how he beat Madara though. And on how Minato got rid of the giant meteor. I never expected Madara to get sealed yet, even if he's obviously going to get released. I thought they'd fight to a standstill and then Minato would vow to get stronger or something. I'm curious to see what you're going to do with Nagato now. Are you going to have him join a village or perhaps continue as the leader of Amegakure but open up to the other villages. Or is he going to remain an outside source of help? Well I'll find out I guess. Someone commented about having characters die in order to create a sense of realism in the story. That's probably a good idea but be careful not to kill of an unreasonable amount or any at all if you really don't want too. Your story after all, and when you read through the manga's there are a lot of characters you really don't want to die but they do. You are killing off a few of your oc's like Kyle. I think I got that right. Well I'm gonna stop blathering because anything I say you've probably heard before. Good story, keep it up.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Sorry to confuse you. Nagato and Konan will continue to run Ame, and they will open up as well. And I am perfectly fine with you "blathering" I like to hear good opinions even if it's a little repetitive.**

**Felix and Drakmus's battle concludes next chapter, which I will title, To Forget Me. What will happen at the end of their struggle?**

**There is also a new poll out involving Drakmus, and his fate in future chapters. Go to my profile and check it out! And PLEASE Review!**


	69. Chapter 68: To Forget Me

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Poll results are in! The winning votes are the ones that went in to say that Drakmus will become a good guy and survive the series! That won't happen for a little while, but he will return to fight alongside Naruto's group later!**

**And now, on with the chapter!**

**Chapter 68: To Forget Me**

**(A/N: OST Sadness and Sorrow plays)**

_Flashback_

_"I wonder what Felix is up to today?" a five year old Markus said with his hands behind his head. As he strolled through the town that Felix and Kyle liked to hang out at when they had no other duties, he noticed a few glares pointed in his direction. He sighed. Even if the demon he had been merged with had not in particular did any damage to anybody, and was brain dead when merged with him so there was no chance of it taking over his mind, there were still people who felt he was an abomination. But that was why he treasured the bond he had with Felix so much. _

_He eventually heard the voices of Felix and Kyle having a conversation and enthusiastically ran over to the area he heard them talking._

_"Hey, where is that Markus freak today anyway?" he heard Kyle say, and he froze and hid himself._

_"I heard he was training with Victor again," Felix replied and Markus remembered that was what he was supposed to be doing today. "This means I can stop pretending for today. Honestly, how he is stupid enough to think anyone would be friends with a mindless beast like him? If it weren't for my father's orders to ensure he was loyal to the Yoshoryuu clan, I wouldn't bother."_

_Markus clenched his fists and started to morph them into their demonic forms. He was about to go around the corner and tear both of them to shreds, but he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Victor, who appeared sympathetic. "I came looking for you, and heard everything they said," he told Markus softly so that Felix and Kyle would not hear. "That proves how cruel people you think are your friends can be. They often will not hesitate to manipulate you. But we need the Yoshoryuu clan now for justice to be dealt to the Elder Dimension Council. You can kill those two later."_

_Markus nodded as his hands returned to normal. From then on, he focused all of his efforts to helping to ensure Victor's coup was successful, not even caring when he heard that Victor had orchestrated the incident that was giving Victor so much support in the coup he had been secretly planning and framed the Elder Dimension Ruling Council._

_End Flashback_

But now, Drakmus was starting to doubt the memory, wondering why it always surfaced when he tried to remember the friendship he once had with Felix. And he knew that Victor had once proven capable of creating a lie in order to further his own goals. Could he have done so to the part demon as well? It was certainly Victor's style…

Drakmus and Felix both placed hands over their wounds. Neither injury was deep enough to be fatal, though they were still serious enough to need treatment soon. They had both hesitated at the critical moment. If that had not happened, they would both already be dead. Felix was already applying medical ninjutsu to his wound, and Drakmus hung his head. What a fool he had been…

"Are you going to attack me now?" Felix asked as he turned his gaze to his former friend.

"No," Drakmus said as he rose, using Hellfire to cauterize the fresh wound Felix had put on his old one. "I could see in your heart when we exchanged that blow. Your eyes told me that you said nothing but the truth to me during this fight. All I did, I have no excuse for anymore."

"Markus," Felix started as he sheathed Elemental Infinity. "It was not your fault, at least not entirely. You were a puppet to Victor, and he abused you to no end all these years. Can you forgive me for not seeing what he was doing until it was too late?"

"Why?"

"Because I forgive you for what you did when Victor toyed with your mind."

Drakmus sighed and said, "Felix, it is not that simple." He then turned his back to Felix and extended a hand.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

"Come on, hic, you should be able ta do betta than that," Lee said as he kicked Caius right in the mouth and sent him sprawling. Caius rose, getting well and truly pissed at this point.

**(A/N: OST Rock Lee's Theme plays)**

"Stop mocking me, you little twerp!" Caius shouted as he completely snapped and rushed, Lee, all style forgotten. In addition to the scythe he had used earlier, he now also had a long serrated curved dager in his other hand. With blinding speed, he went into a berserker attack against Lee, stabbing, cutting and kicking at just about every possible angle, and Lee easily dodged all of the attacks.

Just as Cauis took a swing at Lee's head, the drunk fighter said, "Oh lookie, someone dropped a ryo!" He ducked right under Caius's swing to pick up said bill and got up so fast that the top of his head slammed right into the underside of Caius's chin. Caius was sprawling again, and Lee clutched the top of his head. "Why doncha watch where yer puttin' yer stinkin' chin, you, hic, imbecile!" he shouted in irritation.

Caius got into a sitting position and snarled, "I have long had enough of this." He pulled out a scroll and opened it, unsealing a container with a strange wormlike creature with a needlelike head and sixteen legs in a kind of fluid within it. He broke the container open and put the creature right on the back of his neck, and it immediately sank the needle head into the base of the back of his head and used its sixteen legs to get additional anchorage. Caius snarled in pain as his body began to react almost instantaneously.

"Wha' are ya doin'?" Lee asked stupidly as Caius thrashed for a few seconds and got to his feet with a smirk. "That does not, hic, look very fun."

"I really hate using this parasite for anything," Caius said in a much lower, gravelly voice. "It always ends up with my death in a painful manner. Even if I am constantly having myself revived, I really hate dying. But I will make certain that you spend the last three hours of my current life in greater pain than I am." Caius then glared up at Lee, his eyes having become bloodshot and with scarlet slits. His muscles began to bulge out slightly, and his teeth started to grow sharp.

Lee ran right at Caius and unleashed a flurry of blows at him, somehow having enough remaining conscious thought to be aiming to knock him down before he could complete the metamorphosis, whatever the end result was going to be.

However, Lee's blows, hard as they were, had absolutely no effect on the monster Caius was rapidly becoming. His fists and feet would smash against Caius's flesh and Caius would not even flinch from said attacks. "My turn," Caius eventually said and with speed that not even a drunk Lee could respond to in time, slashed the spandex clad ninja across the chest with claws he sprouted at that exact same moment.

Lee was sent flying back with four deep diagonal cuts and when he came to a stop, he painfully raised his head and said, "Wha- What happened?"

"It seems that you are now sober. Good. I want you fully aware as I kill you one inch at a time for forcing me to use this," Caius said as he stepped towards his opponent, who was horrorstruck to see what Caius was looking like now.

…..

BOOOM! The tags Tobi had put into the mailbox Isaac had appropriated had gone off, and when the smoke cleared, Isaac was covered from head to toe in pink glitter. "Hahaha, you are all pretty now!" Tobi cackled with glee and Isaac looked a little mortified at himself.

"Why you," he said as he dusted himself off and somehow managed to get the worst of it off of him. Tobi seemed to ponder what to do next, and Isaac ran right at him.

"Oh look a squirrel!" Tobi shouted as he pointed and Isaac froze, paling dramatically.

"Where!?" he demanded as he dived into the nearest building.

Tobi just stared after him with a sort of confused manner that was obvious even behind his mask. "That's odd, Tobi just wanted to distract the guy, why did he seem so scared?" Tobi then shrugged and stepped into the house, deciding to puzzle it out later. He then stepped on a bar of soap on a wet floor and went for a rather fast skiing trip across the room. "Aaaaiiiiiiieeeeeee!" he shouted as Isaac leapt around the corner and opened the door to the freezer and caused Tobi to smash his masked face right into it, causing him to fall on his back and finish his skidding in said position until both of his legs went on either side of the house's support beam and his crotch smashed right into said beam.

"Gotcha there," Isaac chuckled as Tobi was hunched over, clutching his precious cargo.

…

In a certain safe house of Naruto's a certain red head that was trying to get answers from an adamantly quiet black fox sneezed.

….

"That was a mean thing to do to Tobi, why did you have to do that to Tobi, Tobi's a good boy," Tobi whined while weeping anime tears out of the hole in his mask. Isaac was meanwhile hunched over himself, though in his case, he was just trying and failing miserably to bring his laughter under control.

"Sorry man, it was too good of a joke to not pull," Isaac replied. "You dropped something by the way."

Tobi looked up and saw that a certain orange book had indeed fallen from his pocket during the chaos **(A/N: Who can guess where this is going to be headed? Oh, by the way, End OST)**.

…

Sasori's shell began to crack slightly under the force of Sakura's fist, but it did not break. "Whoa, whatever that thing is, it's tough," Sakura said as she leapt away in time to avoid a counterstrike from Sasori's recently freed tail.

**(A/N: OST Jinchuriki plays)**

"Your Hiruko is a lot stronger than I remember if it took a blow like that," Chiyo said as she gazed at the spider web pattern that Sakura had managed to put on the shell.

"Indeed it is Granny. You see, I have a partner in my organization that has a certain way with a fire that can forge metal to many times its usual hardness, and I have lined all of my puppets with this," Sasori replied. "That said, I am quite impressed that this much damage has been done to it even with that specially made steel to absorb some of the blow."

"Kankuro," Chiyo said. "We need to get Sakura here another opening to break that outer puppet of his if we are to have a chance of beating him. Use that puppet."

"Alright then," Kankuro said as he removed a final scroll from his pack.

"I got him off guard before, but I am not sure I can get close enough to him a second time, even if you two try to draw his attention for me," Sakura said a little worriedly.

"Do not worry," Chiyo said as she undid her heir bun. "I happen to know Sasori's moves rather well, him being my grandson and all, so I should be able to see a pattern that you can exploit. One more good hit should get him out of the puppet."

"Here we go!" Kankuro shouted as he unfurled his scroll, releasing his new puppet in a cloud of smoke. "Black Warrior!" The smoke cleared to reveal a puppet that was solid black and about nine feet tall. It also had four arms, the two main ones holding a sledgehammer made of diamond. The other two both had crossbows with sealing matrixes on them and the loaded bolts also tipped with diamond. The puppet's outer shell seemed to be entirely made of titanium. "Let's bring a few new tricks to this puppet show!" Kankuro said with a smirk.

…

"What in the?" Orochimaru asked as the gold dust and sand to reveal Gaara and his father, the latter of whom Orochimaru stared right at. "How are you alive? I killed you some time ago!"

"Yes, you did, in the middle of the desert on my way to the chunin exams," the Kazekage replied. "But a resurrection jutsu was used to revive me shortly afterwards, and even restored my face after you took it. That is why Suna betrayed you in that blundered invasion, because I was able to give the order to do so."

"Kukuku, and here I was, thinking that you were planning that from the start," Orochimaru said. "It appears that I really was the one that was the first to double-cross you."

"Well, now I have a score to settle," Gaara's father said.

The Sandaime Kazekage looked at the Yondaime, and said, "Well, Hikaru **(A/N: Yes, I am giving Gaara's dad a name, I am sick of referring to him as either just the Kazekage or as Gaara's dad, hope no one minds) **it has been a while. They made you Kazekage?"

"Yes Sensei, though they spent a good deal of time trying to find you first, and that made the village unstable for a time."

"I see. I apologize for the problems my disappearance caused. It was Sasori who was responsible."

"We know."

"You guys want me to let you go at this yourselves?" Naruto's clone asked.

"Yes, we can handle these two ourselves," Gaara replied. "In the meantime, could you do something about that?" He pointed in the direction of about nine Chimera's Caius had unleashed on the village.

"Alright then, I'll take care of it," Naruto said with a grin. He leapt in the direction of the beasts and bit his thumb as he ended up above them and shouted, "Summoning Jutsu! Food Cart Destroyer!" With three bursts of smoke, three of the giant undead monsters were suddenly crushed under a giant toad.

….

"Gaah, that blood of yours is quite irritating, hm," Deidara said as he guided a few more bird bombs at Alex, who released some more blood from his hands and coated said bombs in it to keep the explosions contained. Alex was currently riding a flying creature of his own made of his blood, this creature a bat. He sent a few tendrils at Deidara, whose mount was caught in them, forcing him to abandon it and jump on top of a roof and he made a more streamlined bird to fly with, and took off again just in time to avoid Alex leaping on the roof himself and trying to stab the bomber with his cutlass.

"Haah!" Deidara shouted as the mines he had placed on the roof went off, and engulfed Alex within the blast. "Weren't expecting that, hm?" Deidara asked, but then ducked as more blood tendrils came at him from behind and he turned to see Alex still coming after him on that blood bat.

"Blood Clone," Alex said before Deidara could ask. Deidara made a tsk noise and he flew backwards, about to send more bombs to get some breathing room, when enough smoke cleared over the building whose roof they had destroyed, and they both spotted Tobi and Isaac inside, so engrossed in an Icha Icha book that they had not noticed the fact that the building they were in just had its roof blown off as they both giggled perversely.

Both Deidara and Alex stared for a moment, before they developed tick marks and shouted at the same time, "TOBI/ ISAAC, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Instant results.

Both the smut readers jumped about a foot into the air, Tobi fumbling his Icha Icha book for a few seconds before he and Isaac both looked up at their respective enraged friend/partner sheepishly. "Tobi and Isaac were just taking a little break Deidara-chan," Tobi said.

"Yeah, we may be enemies and all, but he sure has good taste in books," Isaac said while pointing to Tobi . "Would you two care to join us, there is this great scene where the guy-." He was cut off when Alex sent a few bullets of blood at him, and Deidara sent a few bombs at Tobi. There was an explosion and a few smacking noises as both of their attacks hit, and when the dust cleared, Tobi was lying in a smoking crater with a swirl were his eyehole should be, and Issac was in the ruins of a wall he had been knocked though, x's where his eyes should be, even one on his headband over his forehead.

Alex and Deidara gave each other a glance and made a silent agreement that whoever got out of this fight alive was never to speak of this incident again. They then picked up where they left off on trying to kill each other.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…

"I take it you are Izuna Uchiha," Sasuke said to his opponent as more of a statement than a question as their blades locked against each other, Sasuke holding his swords in an x, though the snake sword in his left hand was still in a reverse grip.

**(A/N: OST Kokuten plays)**

The Uchiha simply glared at Sasuke and said, "Tsukuyomi."

Sasuke found himself in a genjutsu world of his opponent's making, and found himself bound by several pillars of rock, and flames that somehow made him feel burning hot and freezing cold at the same time, while rats that were unaffected continuously chewed on the entirety of his body, even chewing his eyes out repeatedly as they grew back.

"You assume correctly, kinsmen," Izuna replied. "Though it pains me to destroy one of the members of my clan, I cannot control my actions at present. I apologize for that."

Sasuke only smirked as the flames faded, as well as the rats. "What?" Izuna asked, shocked that his Tsukuyomi was beaten.

"Sorry, I practiced too many times breaking that genjutsu with my brother for it to be effective against me," Sasuke replied as the world shattered like glass and they were back in reality at the exact same moment they left, and Izuna staggered back, clutching his bleeding left eye, and he hastily blocked a stab from Sasuke's hawk sword, which had lightning chakra getting conducted through it. The blade began to cut through Izuna's before Izuna was able to conduct some of his own chakra through his blade to bolster it against Sasuke's.

But during this moment, Sasuke gave a very swift swing of the snake sword that was still in a reverse grip and had thus been a little behind his back. Fire chakra was being conducted through this sword. Despite Izuna being able to follow the movement with his Sharingan, he was too slow to avoid the slash that was carved across his gut. Izuna jumped back as the venomous fire chakra began to burn away at his Edo body. _"He keeps the snake sword out of the way in that grip until there is an opportunity to strike with a poisonous blow, almost like a real snake," _Izuna mused in an analytical way._"And he seems to use the hawk sword to cut his way through an opponent's defenses with very swift and precise blows augmented by lightning chakra. And his movements with each sword reminds me of the way the animal engraved on it."_

_"I developed this style by watching the movements of Codra and Akaitori with my Sharingan," _Sasuke thought smugly. _"With the sword with the hawk symbol on it, I cut defenses down and wound opponents, and finish them off with swift surprise strikes during openings with the snake sword, using lightning for the first sword and fire for the second."_

Izuna frantically avoided another swing from the snake sword and cast a few signs. "Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!"

Sasuke immediately copied the motions and fired one of his own off at Izuna. The two fireballs clashed momentarily, before they canceled each other out. Sasuke ran at Izuna, who deflected the hawk sword a few times and got a small cut on his thigh from the snake sword. The fire chakra continuously burned at his Edo Tensei body despite its regeneration factor. Again, they clashed blades and Izuna this time allowed the hawk sword to impale him through the shoulder and he grabbed the wrist that held the snake sword. He then swung his own katana at Sasuke, who removed his hawk sword in time to try to block, but Izuna had a trick up his sleeve. "Watch out! Hidden Art: Shadow Blade!"

Both swords met… and Izuna's passed right through Sasuke's, Izuna's jutsu having made it momentarily intangible. Sasuke's eyes widened as Izuna channeled fire chakra through his katana at the very last instant and slashed Sasuke across the chest.

"I am sorry about that," Izuna said as Sasuke staggered back… and then burst into a bunch of snakes and regular sized hawks. "What?"

"Glad I learned that trick," Sasuke said as he swung his swords at Izuna from behind. There was a loud impact as Sasuke's swords slammed against the greenish chakra backbones that sprung up. "Damn!" Sasuke shouted as he leapt back just in time to avoid a back swing from Izuna's Susanoo, which wielded a large axe in one of its arms.

Sasuke leapt further back and watched Izuna fully form the Susanoo. It had two heads, one with three spines lined like horns on top of its head, and the other one, the left one had the same spines on its chin like a kind of odd beard. The right arm that held the axe was heavily muscled, and the left arm held a trident, and was slightly more leanly muscled. An extra forearm came from the elbow of the left arm and held a net. The arm that held the axe also had an extra forearm and held a katana.

"Be careful!"Izuna shouted. "This power has extremely high attack and defensive capabilities!"

Sasuke smirked. "I know," he said and his Susanoo formed as well.

"Good, you can do it too," Izuna sighed in relief. "You may be able to beat me then. But remember, in this state, I am immortal, and cannot die again, and my reserves are infinite. You have to take me out as fast as possible before I can wear you out and find a way to restrict my movements."

"Don't worry," Sasuke replied. "Once I get enough fire chakra into your system to keep your regeneration factor extra busy, it will keep you from being able to fight effectively as your body constantly tries to regenerate. I will then restrain you with a few snakes that have a special venom that will keep you from using chakra until a friend of mine can seal you."

Sasuke's Susanoo then armed an arrow with Amatarasu and fired at Izuna's Susanoo, which blocked with the flat of the axe, which caught in the black flames, though Izuna simply dispelled the axe to get rid of the flames and then restored it. Both of his eyes bled as he focused his power.

Izuna then directed his Susanoo to try to ensnare Sasuke's Susanoo in the net, which seemed to work at first, until Sasuke bit his thumb and cast several signs. Codra burst into being, his mass breaking the net. He had grown about ten feet longer during the past two years and was actually slightly larger than Manda had been at this point now.

"Been a while Sasuke," Codra said as Sasuke reformed the Susanoo on top of Codra's head.

"Didn't get into any major fights lately Codra," Sasuke replied. "I need your assistance now though."

"Alright then, I was a little bored anyway," Codra replied.

"A summon against a Susanoo is not a good idea," Izuna said with slight disappointment. "Even ones of that size are easily killed by the Susanoo weapons, and they are too big of targets."

"That's why I am going to do this!"Sasuke said as his Susanoo gained the final layer of armor and then reformed around Codra, becoming an armor around the snake, which towered over Izuna's Susanoo now.

The Susanoo bow formed over Codra's head, larger than normal to seem more like a mounted ballistae than a simple crossbow. Four Susanoo arms formed on Codra's small hood, two on each side and holding swords that were burning with Amaterasu**.**

"Okay, that's a little better," Izuna said with a low whistle.

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

"Felix, after all I have done, you cannot expect me to be selfish enough to accept your forgiveness," Drakmus said with his head down as he opened a Dimension Door. "So I not will ask you to forgive me. Instead, I must ask you to forget me. You and I will never meet again." He began to step through the rift.

"Markus, please wait!" Felix shouted. Drakmus paused and Felix continued, "Even if you think that you are beyond redemption, I don't! You were manipulated your whole life, you are not entirely to blame for your actions!"

"But even if I was manipulated Felix, I alone was in control of my actions. I was not strong enough to set aside my anger enough to look at the facts and see the truth from the start. I have no right to be around you, not after killing your father and so many of your kinsmen. And even if you can forgive me, can they, and the ones who suffered because of their deaths do the same?" Drakmus took another step through the rift.

"I don't care what it takes! I know that you can win back the respect and trust of the Yoshoryuu clan! Because I know that you are strong, Markus! You just now said that you alone can control your actions, even if you partially base the actions off of outside influences! That's why I believe that if you set your mind to it, you can regain the person you were before Victor changed you!"

Drakmus chuckled darkly. "Felix, you are far too kind hearted to be a warrior of any kind, you realize that right?" Felix did not answer. "But nothing I do can change the past, except for the time traveling seal that you used. But that is not a viable option, because of the fact that the time of the Elder Dimension has been locked by several other seals to prevent the power from being abused there. And even if I did use one, I cannot wash away the guilt that my actions have caused."

"Markus…"

"And one more thing. I tossed that name away like trash before, so I have no right to pick it up again. So just stop using that name to address me," Drakmus said, and then he stepped fully into the rift.

"Markus!" Felix shouted, but the rift had already closed. Drakmus had left.

**A/N: Kind of a sad note to end the chapter on, huh? Review responses!**

**Mellra:**

**I have an idea for Orochimaru if you're interested: because his immortality jutsu directly affects his soul, he's able to possess some random civilian/shinobi before being recalled as an Edo Tensei. My reasoning is that Orochimaru's such a great villian because he creeps literally everyone out! If you decide not to, that's okay to, just thought I'd give you my input. Can't wait to see more! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Good job, spoiling an idea I already had! T-T… now I can't take credit… why?**

**SkyRune:**

**rasEnshur1KEn-sama, I just came across this new term and I thought it might interest you. It is called "Kitsune no yomeiri" or Fox's Wedding. it refers to "Sunshowers" and an old folklore. I think that it is interesting and believe that you can put it in your story as either a Jutsu or for a scene. I hope that you can use this and if not, im just glad that I can help. keep it up, U can do it.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**That may be interesting.**

**SkullNoise:**

**Awesome story! You sir have earned my first ever review given! xD But anyways, I loved how the fights between Tobi and Isaac as well as Lee and Caius played out! You did a great job at making it seem realistic. Hmmm, do you think Sasuke is good enough to take on Izuna, who was as strong as Madara was when he was alive? **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, Sasuke should be able to handle Izuna. Glad this was your first review! **

**Marrok2456:**

**Really good chapter:) love lees Drunken Fist and the fight with Felix and Marcus:) Will lee be able to open more then 5 of the eight inner gates cuz I think that it would be awesome with a combo of lee and gai both in 6th gate using asakujaku on a opponent:) **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yes, Lee can open more than five gates now. **

**Uzumaki Clan Leader:**

**Hi! I just wanted to say, I'm new to fanfiction! Well, new as in "I just got an account today but I've been reading fanfiction for years." I've been following your story for a while and I just wanted to say I love your story! I've actually reviewed your story twice before, as a guest reviewer. So yeah. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Thanks. What reviews were those?**

**Arniecar145:**

**The clash between Markus and Felix. Badass! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Thanks!**

**Titokhan:**

**The amount of wine Lee ingested would be an indicator he'll be in drunken master mode for a while. Caius is in more than a little trouble.**

**the 'tobi is a good boy' silly fight with Issac is a blast, but you have to wonder when the goofy facade tobi wears as a mask will fall off.**

**Kankuro with an original puppet? this should be interesting. as all of his puppets were either created by Sasori (including mother and father after chiyo gifted them to him if memory serves) or actually was Sasori's puppet body.**

**you still haven't identified the mystery Uchiha fighting Temari and Shikamaru (and now Sasuke), but just a regular MS severly limits the possibilities now.. which I believe I have inquired about in PM**

**Edo-pedo-hebi and 3rd Kazekage against main clone Naruto and Gaara's dad should be interesting. this is the clone that has about 1/4 of naruto's chakra available isn't it? So he should be able to use most of the originals arsenal **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yep, your guesses in the PM was correct. **

**Redsox31:**

**I'm very disappointed in both Tobi and Isaac, whack-a-mole is not a very difficult game to remember the rules of.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**It wasn't Isaac who forgot, just Tobi.**

**Gameipedia:**

**I wasnt in the review thing even though i gave one TT*TT **

**good chapter anyway**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Sorry, I don't respond to all reviews. **

**mellra:**

**(Sets two broken legs and back) Okay, I'll forgive you for that one, only if you update again soon! If not (pulls out RPG with twin barrels) well, I'll leave it to your imagination. Great chapter and I hope to see more soon!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**(Raises hands in the air) I'm leaving the chapter right here, don't shoot me!**

**Well, getting close to 1000 reviews. It may be too much to ask to reach that goal before next chapter, but I can always hope!**

**PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! Help me reach my goal!**


	70. Chapter 69: Gold, Iron and Sand

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: With this chapter, I have hit 300,000 words! This story is starting to get a little long, huh? Of course, there is the fact that a good portion of those words are reviews and responses, so I guess I shouldn't pat myself on the back yet. **

**Not only that, but I am now at 1,000 reviews! , if you ever get this far in my story, thank you for giving me review #1000! **

**Chapter 69: Gold, Iron and Sand**

**(A/N: OST Orochimaru plays)**

"Sand Shuriken!" Gaara shouted, aiming the attack at Orochimaru, who simply moved out of the way, Miraiyochigan active. A wall of iron moved to attack Gaara, but was blocked by Hikaru's gold dust and the Sandaime Kazekage changed targets to Hikaru, who made shield of gold before launching a spear of the dust at the Sandaime, who used Magnetic Style to easily take control of the gold dust and send it back at Hikaru, who was forced to dodge before Gaara moved some sand to his father's defense. More iron came at Hikaru, but the Yondaime replicated the Sandaime's feat and took control over it with Magnetic Style.

"It does not look like we will be making much progress if we just cancel each other's powers out repeatedly every time we attack," Hikaru said to his former mentor, who nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, our respective control over our metal decreases the further they get away from us, and thus makes it vulnerable to being controlled by the other," the Sandaime replied. "If that is the case, such a fight would only end in a stalemate, except for the fact that I am in an immortal body, so you would eventually get worn down…"

"But you have me to deal with as well!" Gaara shouted as a wave of sand came down at the Sandaime Kazekage, who was forced to dodge and sent a large axe of iron at Gaara. A Sand Shield rose up between Gaara and the weapon and blocked the hit. "What say you settle the score with the snake over there, while I take care of your teacher for you Father?" Gaara asked.

Hikaru sent a wave of gold dust at Orochimaru and answered, "While I would have appreciated a chance to test my abilities against the one who taught me them in the first place, that is the best way to approach this."

Several more spears of gold dust were sent at Orochimaru, who easily dodged them due to his stolen dojutsu and his own natural agility, though once his Miraiyochigan wore off for another ten seconds, he found himself in a bind when he was surrounded by the dust. He quickly cast several signs and shouted, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The gold dust was blown away and Hikaru was suddenly restrained by snakes that sunk their fangs into him, having previously been hidden by a genjutsu.

Hikaru dissolved into gold dust, causing Orochimaru to hiss and whip around to see the Kazekage behind him, focusing his chakra to make a whirlwind of gold dust around him. "I still have a score to settle with you for killing me and trying to use my village to further your own twisted agenda! Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"

The wind attacks blasted Orochimaru in two, though his snakes quickly reconnected him, and another snake shot out of his mouth and released the Kusanagi Blade to try to impale the Kazekage again. Gold dust however wrapped around it and kept it quivering away from Hikaru. "Big words coming from one I killed before," Orochimaru cackled.

"I admit that is true. I was foolish to assume that you would use a weapon that I could control with Magnetic Style against me when you attacked with that sword during your ambush. But the Kusanagi Blade seems to be immune to my influence, which is why I was stabbed and killed when I tried to use Magnetic Style alone to defend against it.

"But now I am not only stronger than I was two years ago, but also know to use gold dust as my defense as well. You won't find me such an easy opponent this time."

"Kukuku, we shall see. Earth Style: Mud Clone Jutsu!" Four Mud Clones rose from the earth and sent snakes at Hikaru, who simply unsealed several kunai made of gold from a scroll and used Magnetic Style to control them into cutting the snakes up.

The Sandaime Kazekage made several blades of iron and sent them at Gaara, who once again raised a Sand Shield before planting his hands on the ground and shouting, "Sand Deity!" His special Sand Shield with diamond dust added in wrapped around him and more sand from the desert gathered around it to form the warrior that Gaara had shown Sasuke. Within the Sand Shield, Gaara pulled out the scroll that held the diamond blade and unsealed it, moving the sand out of the way to allow the blade to get outside before the shield closed. The Deity picked up the sword and swung it at the Sandaime.

"Now that is an interesting application to controlling sand," the former Kazekage said as he avoided the attack, which smashed the area up pretty bad. "Tell me, how do you control sand that is not made of metal?"

"I am the jinchuriki of the Ichibi, Shukakku," Gaara replied.

"I see." The deity swung again, and the Sandaime leapt back before forming a gigantic spear and launching it at the deity with all of his power, making it spin like a drill in the process. The Sand Deity extended a hand and another embodiment of sand in the shape of Kurara, Gaara's mother rose and caught the spear in both hands, slowing its velocity, but not enough to stop it from passing through said embodiment and hitting the Sand Deity and going into it until stopping a fair way in.

Gaara did not let the fact that he was a little unnerved by the fact the tip of the giant javelin was barely an inch from his forehead show. "You can certainly put a lot of power into your Magnetic Style."

"Yeah, that is the most raw force I could accomplish when I was alive, though it would have drained me after only a few shots of that caliber. Since that is not an issue in this state, you should expect many more such attacks from me. Of course, there was also the other jutsu I had that drained me in one shot normally."

_"Strange. Why would he have his pawns attack as if to kill when they need me alive? Is he so determined to ensure capture that he is willing to come at me with the intent to kill, and risk losing Shukakku for a few years? Unless…" _Gaara's free eye that wasn't being used for the Third Eye to see outside Sand Deity snapped open. _"Of course, how could I forget that they only need a piece of Shukaku's chakra, even if the full thing is preferable, so all they would need is… the tea kettle that Shukaku has been sealed in before!"_

He went inside his mindscape to speak with said Bijuu for a moment. **"Oh, it's you,"**the Bijuu said from the glass cube that was its prison. Unlike most Bijuu, who could be restrained from killing their containers with bars, a being of sand required something more airtight.** "What do you want? Please tell me you're going to start letting me kill things again. Poor little old me has gone into a withdrawal."**

"There is nothing little about you, Shukaku," Gaara replied. "Tell me, would there be any of your chakra remaining inside the kettle you were sealed in?"

**"Of course there would be you dolt. Our surplus chakra lingers in places for a while after we are on a rampage, or if we just spent a good deal of time in a certain place. And that container was built to hold the entirety of me, so it would keep enough chakra from the times I have been in here to easily create a pseudo jinchuriki if you sealed it in someone. Obviously not as strong as me, but enough to kill weakling humans. Why?"**

"Damn it!" Gaara shouted as he returned to reality.

The Sandaime was confused as he saw some sand from the image of Kurara rise up and form a clone of Gaara. _"What could he be plotting?" _he thought as the Sand Mother shot several Sand Shuriken at the Sandaime. During this diversion, the Gaara Sand Clone ran for the Kazekage tower.

The Sandaime however dodged and cast a few seals. "Magnetic Style: Needle Sphere!" An iron sphere formed and several branching needles erupted, assaulting Gaara's sand structures at a rampant pace. The Sand Deity was impaled several times by the jutsu, and began to crumble.

The clone had gotten away, but the Sandaime figured that it would have dissolved with the defeat of its castor. There was no way Gaara would have gotten out of that unscathed. If he was alive, he would be in very rough shape indeed. The Sandaime walked over to the place where the sand had some diamond dust in it, knowing that would be where Gaara would be if his body was even intact. His body had received orders to attack with the intent to kill from Caius, but to capture Gaara alive if an opportunity presented itself.

…..

"Hmm, you're still standing then?" Caius said as a bruised and beaten Lee got to his feet again. Caius then sent several tentacles with very sharp tips at Lee, trying to cut him to pieces. Lee avoided the attacks and Caius continued, "This parasite on my neck is called the Neo Totsuzenhen'i, due to its power to give the host free rein over their own genetics. You see, it attaches itself to a host to lay eggs into it for a few months. It then proceeds to remove all inhibitors that turn off certain genes that nature viewed as obsolete somewhere down the line. So in other words, I can shape-shift my body into any form I so desire, so long as it was within previous genetics once had along the process of evolution. This is to ensure the host survives long enough to have the eggs hatch and produce more of these symbiotic creatures, though the process is a painful for the few months that it goes on, and ends in death.

"My case however is rather different. You see, I spliced countless genetics into my body, all of them turned off to prevent any immediate change, so they only have an effect when I use this parasite. Otherwise, having so many genetics would kill me. As it is, my genetic structure is so unstable that I will only live for a few hours after this, and will be in burning agony for the duration, but in exchange, my power is far greater at this point. The only limitation is that it does not work on any Kekkei Genkai that I know of."

"Messing with your own genetics in a manner that would kill you?" Lee asked in shock as he began to undo some of his bandages. "That is one of the most horrible and most unyouthful things I have heard of."

"Oh, not to worry, I am not called the Corrupt Pheonix for nothing. I have a little issue with staying dead," Caius replied. "I have a means of reviving myself. In fact, neither one of us will be gone for long. Once I am done with you here, you will become one of my pawns."

"I have no intention of allowing you to use me against my comrades in any way!" Lee shouted as he ran forward, opening the First Celestial Gate as he went. He ducked down under a swing from Caius, and slammed his foot into the Shikkokyo's chin, knocking him into the air. He then leapt up after him and wrapped him in his bandages and shouted, "Primary Lotus!" There was a crash as Lee pile drived him right into the ground.

Lee jumped away and placed his hands on his knees, panting a great deal before he looked up in time to see Caius rise from the crater and dust himself off contemptuously, not fazed by the attack in the slightest. He then sent many more tendrils at Lee, who was forced to open the Second Gate to dodge. _"This is bad," _Lee thought. _"If a direct blow from the Primary Lotus had absolutely no effect on my foe, then_ _not even the Reverse Lotus will do much to him. If that is the case, I will have to open the sixth gate and hit him with Asakujaku, but if even that fails, I will be defenseless! What to do!?"_

"Is it starting to sink in, just how outmatched you are?" Caius asked in amusement. "You are wondering right now if you should open as many of the Celestial Gates as you can, but know that if you do so and fail, then the battle will end for you, that right?" Lee glared at Caius in frustration. "Honestly, you would be best off just killing yourself here, that way you won't have to suffer before I finish you off. But you seem like the type who is foolish enough to try until you fail, even when you know you will fail."

"You keep your unyouthful thoughts to yourself!" Lee shouted in anger. "I am not done yet!"

Caius began to laugh before he gave a small reaction and whipped around to deflect a few spiked balls that were thrown at him from behind. Only to see they were covered in exploding tags. BOOM!

Caius was thrown back, smoking slightly, but hardly injured before an arrow with a kind of spiraling chakra in it pierced his shoulder.

**(A/N: End OST)**

….

**(A/N: OST Hurricane Suite plays)**

"Here goes nothing!" Kankuro shouted as he guided the Black Warrior at Sasori who moved his tail to deflect the attack with ease, knocking the sledgehammer free, and he attempted to wrap his tail around Black Warrior. However, the Warrior fired a blot from both crossbows and both bolts hit with enough force to slightly knock the tail off course and allow the Warrior to escape. The sealing matrixes on the crossbows activated and another bolt appeared in each bow as an automatic mechanism caused the cord to be pulled taut again for reloading. Unfortunately, the cord of the crossbow on the right lower arm got tangled with the released bolt and jammed. Apparently, Kankuro was not kidding when he said the puppet still had a few kinks.

Meanwhile, Chiyo and Sakura were approaching Sasori from his left flank at high speed. Sasori removed the mouth veil from the mouth of his puppet and began firing senbon in vast quantities at Sakura nad Chiyo, in addition to shooting the left arm of the puppet at them. The two kunoichi avoided the senbon and the wooden and metal fragments shot from the arm, surprising Sasori, who then momentarily had to deal with Black Warrior, which had a spare sledgehammer seaed on its person and smashed it into the face of Hiruko, causing a few cracks to spread over it, before getting smashed aside by the tail, which then zoned in on Sakura, who Sasori deemed the greatest threat due to her ability to break his armor with another solid blow. But what he did not realize was that Kankuro had only controlled Black Warrior with only one hand and when Sasori attacked it, he was able to attach his strings to the tail. As a result, the appendage was forced to stop a few inches from Sakura's forehead, and the pinkette was able to get close enough to smash her fist into the shell of Hiruko a second time.

The cracks that were already on the puppet spread some more, but it still did not shatter. "What the hell is that thing made of!?" Sakura demanded as Sasori swung with the puppet's right hand at her with a hidden blade. She leapt back and avoided the surprise attack, pulled back by Chiyo's strings.

"That was quite clever of you Granny," Sasori said as a few chips fell loose from the shell. "Using your strings to guide the girl to me, but she still was unable to break my Hiruko. I made it to strong with the materials Drakmus formed." He then attached chakra strings from his puppet's right hand to the strings Kankuro was using to hold his tail and wrenched them off, allowing him to impale Sakura with his tail without any further complications. "Now it's- what!?" The last part was due to Sakura's corpse bursting into cherry petals, and the real Sakura attacking from behind and smashing her fist one final time into Sasori's armored puppet.

This time, the real Sasori was forced to vacate the shattered remains of his puppet and he tossed aside his cloak, shocking Chiyo and Kankuro, both of whom wondering how Sasori could still appear so young after defecting twenty years ago. "Hmph, so you brats and the hag are better than I thought. Very well then, it is time to show you some real puppetry." He took out a scroll and the Black Warrior fired bolts from both crossbows again, the jammed one having been fixed earlier. Sasori merely caught the bolts with his strings and flung them back at Kankuro, who was forced to leap to the side to avoid them.

Chiyo however took advantage of the momentary use of Sasori's strings and attached hers to them to wrench him off balance, and give Sakura a chance to dash in and take him down with another punch that blasted him to pieces. "Not so tough without that armor of yours, are you?" she asked.

"No blood…" Chiyo muttered before shouting, "Sakura, watch out!"

Sasori reformed his puppet body behind Sakura and tried to send his scorpion tail at her, but she got yanked back by Kankuro, who attached his strings to her, and also attached a string to the tail of the shattered Hiruko and attacked Sasori from behind with it. Sasori merely turned around and let it deflect off of the part of his chest that held his heart, only the heart was now encased in titanium that Drakmus had forged to defend that part.

"So, you made yourself into a human puppet…" Chiyo said. "That explains why you have not aged a day…"

"Unlike you, eh Granny?"

Chiyo took out two scrolls of her own and immediately unsealed two very familiar puppets at the same moment that Saori unsealed a familiar one of his own. Chiyo's eyes widened and she said, "The Sandaime… Kazekage?"

"Hmm, and you also are using the puppets that I made as well Granny? Well then that makes things easy for me, since I know how they work inside and out." The Sandaime Kazekage and Chiyo's Mother and Father puppets dashed at each other and clashed with their hidden weapons at a high pace, unveiling serrated katanas and whips with blades along the lengths of them, among other things. By the time the clashes ended, the weapons had been broken to almost nothing.

"Wow," Kankuro and Sakura both said at once before they snapped out of it and Kankuro reasserted control over Black Warrior. "She's not your only opponent!" Kankuro shouted as the Black Warrior flew at Sasori, a few hidden mechanisms in it unveiling spinning saw blades that were fired at Sasori, who dodged, only to come face to face with Sakura, who roared as she bisected him with a kick, only for him to reassemble himself again and tried to stab her with his tail while focusing on his fight with Chiyo as the Kazekage puppet unsealed all those extra arms, which were cut up by wires Chiyo extended between Mother and Father.

Sakura was impaled, but dissolved into mud, revealing her to be a Mud Clone. "How do we kill this guy if he keeps rebuilding himself?!" Sakura demanded as Sasori withdrew himself and the Kazekage.

"Hmmm," Chiyo said. "You two, do you know what Sasori would need to control chakra if his body was a puppet?"

"Well, I am not sure," Sakura said as Kankuro just looked confused. "I always thought that chakra required a source of flesh and blood to control after my medical studies, but if he is a puppet… but he could still have a human part!" she exclaimed as she realized what Chiyo was getting at.

Sasori's eyes narrowed in irritation that his weakness had ben figured out. "But where would he keep such an important piece?" Kankuro asked.

"There!" Sakura shouted, pointing at Sasori's chest, where the metal casing over his heart was visible, in rather plain view. Apparently, that last part occurred to Sakura and she sweat dropped. "How did we miss that?"

"I have no idea," Kankuro said as Chiyo sighed. "I mean, could he be any more obvious here?"

""Even so, if that metal is what he used to line Hiruko, he will not be easy to kill, even if we hit him there," Chiyo mused.

"Are you all quite finished discussing how to exploit my one, and supposedly quite obvious flaw?" Sasori asked irritably as the Kazekage's mouth opened and iron sand began to flow out of it.

…..

The ballista mounted on the top of Codra's head fired at Izuna's Susanoo. Izuna hastily dodged to the side, so that his Susanoo would only have its right side taken out, and it threw its axe at Codra, who easily whipped his body out of the way. The bolt fired from the ballistae blasted away the right arm of Izuna's Susanoo, and Izuna had his Susanoo throw the trident this time. This time it clipped Codra in the side, but only managed to put a small crack in the violet armor. Izuna's Susanoo reformed and replaced its weapons.

Codra made a strike at Izuna, his fangs unfurling and coated in the same aura as a Susanoo blade. Izuna had his Susanoo strike at Codra's left side, and made a few more cracks, but no damage to the snake himself. The fangs Codra had covered in Susanoo blades sunk right into the left side of Izuna's Susanoo, holding it in place. The two heads gathered energy at their mouths and fired Yasaka Magatama at the top of Codra's head before the ballista could reload, destroying said ballista.

Izuna then tried to turn his attention to where Sasuke had been, but Sasuke had disappeared. Izuna's eyes widened._"He can maintain a Susanoo without being inside of it? But in that case… where is he!?"_Izuna turned around just in time to see Sasuke running at Izuna from behind with orange flame like markings spreading across his body until entirely engulfed, turning his skin into a greyish purple, and making his hair a lot longer and a dark blue, and giving him dragon like wings as well **(A/N: Remember, his Second State appearance has been altered, so his wings are no longer those grotesque hands and that nightmare inducing lip color has been done away with as well (shudders))**.

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted as he drove the curse mark powered jutsu into the back of the stunned Izuna's Susanoo. The aura shattered like glass and Izuna was basically bisected by the Chidori, and both halves fell to the ground, his Susanoo fading. Sasuke drew both of his swords and impaled a half of Izunawith each one the upper half through the chest, and the lower through a leg, channeling fire chakra into the swords and streaming them into Izuna, causing his body to start flaking at a rapid rate.

The body managed to reattach both fallen halves, but Izuna found that he could no longer move, due to the fire chakra Sasuke was conducting into him. His body was constantly trying to regenerate, but the fire chakra was specifically burning at Izuna's nerves, paralyzing him. "Good… job… you got me," Izuna said as Sasuke's curse mark receded, and several snakes crawled over to Izuna and bit him, injecting venom that slowed his chakra flow to a very low level, causing his Sharingan to deactivate.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Just stay there," Sasuke said as Codra slithered to him with the Susanoo still active. "Not that you have much choice, but I will be bringing Naruto or someone else to seal you a little later."

…

"Hold still for crying out loud, hm!" Deidara shouted as he sent several more bombs at Alex, who was really starting to wonder if that was all his foe was capable of.

**(A/N: OST Himoji plays)**

"Really, how many bombs do you have to send at me before you realize that it won't work?" Alex shouted back at Deidara, who developed a tick mark and as usual, sent a couple more bombs at Alex, who sighed in exasperation.

He sent more intercepting blood at the bombs and impaled them with several tendrils of it. He then circled the flying blood mount around a building. Deidara smirked as he circled around the opposite side rather than give chase, intending to meet Alex on the other side of the building and surprise him at near point blank range. Sure enough, as one corner was turned by the Iwa bomber, the blood bat also came into view.

"Haah!" Deidara shouted as he sent yet another three flying bombs at the bat, which actually took the blast, only for Deidara to realize that Alex was no longer riding it. "What the?" Deidara demanded as he felt a presence behind him and he whipped around to see that Alex was using blood tendrils from his fingertips as anchorage to race across the area before leaping at Deidara, shortening the tendrils on his left hand as he went.

"Chihansu Technique: Blood Claws!" Alex shouted as he closed in, and the blood from his fingertips became razor sharp. Deidara cursed and leapt to the side desperately, managing to avoid the attack enough so that only his arm got four slashes on the bicep after the attack shredded his sleeve.

But what Alex did not seem to realize was that Deidara's hand managed to stick a spider of clay on his arm as he went by. Deidara smirked as Alex ran and leapt off of Deidara's mount and formed another blood bat. Deidara then proceeded to put his hand into the seal to detonate the explosive with enough power to take someone's head off, just as Alex noticed the clay bug crawl up the back of his neck. "DIE!" Deidara shouted.

….

The Sandaime Kazekage began to use his iron sand to sift through the sand Gaara had left behind in an attempt to find the Ichibi container's body, living or not, when he heard the cry of "Diamond Bullets!" behind him. The former Kazekage whipped around in time to see Gaara rising from the ground with his arms still crossed and the sand around him fire several marble sized balls of diamond at him at high speed. Dust was kicked up from the diamonds smashing into the Kazekage's Edo Tensei body and blasting it apart.

"I see," the Sandaime said as sand crept up his regenerating body to restrain it. "You left your Sand Deity before my attack hit and hid under the ground to strike while my guard was down." Gaara nodded as he took out a sealing tag attached to a kunai. "You will make a fine Kazekage yourself one day, I am sure."

Gaara's mouth twitched as the Sandaime was fully covered. "You have no idea," he said as the threw the kunai and the tag triggered, sealing the Sandaime.

**(A/N: End OST)**

**A/N: Review Responses**

**Guest:**

**Drakmus/Markus better come back and kick some a$$**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Don't worry, Drakmus will be back, and we will see bits of him over the next several chapters.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Death-Prince-3:**

**Only 5 more reviews after mine...AWESOME! Though I gotta say...Lee is no longer drunk so...whats gonna happen? And also...Tobi and Issac are quite interesting, which amkes me wonder...did Obito's Sharingan turn him into a perv? or was it something else? And I like the 4 Kazekage's name! Very nice choice!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**16 reviews later… Thank you for getting me closer to my goal! Hope you are not disappointed with not being #1000! As for the name, I just picked one from another random manga.**

**Qwertyboy123:**

**Hi there rasEnshur1Ken (Surprises you with millions of people jumping out of nowhere) this ch was da best u just earned my first and second review both on this story as an author along with lee so hillarios oh and tobi and isaac reading icha icha paradise(or make out paradise depending on you) so original.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**(Has a Shikkokyo revive him from heart attack given by crowd) Good to know you like this story enough to turn over a new leaf by reviewing!**

**akatsukicolin:**

**Wow, Kankuro's new puppet and the Snake Susano'o sound awesome! Markus/Drakmus are leaving this dimension :( Maybe Kakashi inherited his love for Icha Icha books from Obitio as well, just like his tardiness **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Strangely, you are the only one to comment on the Snake Susanoo… oh well, I suppose it's nothing to Kurama Susanoo anyway. You were right about the Icha Icha thing, though Obito/Tobi did not read them in canon as far as I know, I just threw that in for shits and giggles.**

**Marrok2456:**

**Good chapter. I know that it's almost impossible but I hope that markus will get back to fight for the good ones. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I just had a poll on that if you were paying attention. He will come back, and we will be seeing more of him.**

**cook563:**

**Well damn, that was not only really deep but also really depressing. I think you should have shown him Gaara's and Naruto's memories from the other life, just to show him that everyone can get a second chance.**

**Obito reading Icha Icha doesn't really surprise me, but i can't really place why just yet. that scene was beautiful by the way, if they ever team up again for what ever reason you need to combine their blood jutsu and explosive jutsu to create a corrosive explosive. Just a thought, anyways keep up the great work I'm looking forward to the upcoming chapters. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**It may have to do with the fact that Kakashi reads Icha Icha, and made a point to imitate Obito after his "death."**

**Titokhan:**

**Drakmus's redemption begins. will be interesting to see what you do with that.**

**Had Drunken fist Lee even opened any of the gates before Caius resorted to that? nope.. They really need to find a way to give lee a little control in that state. as scary as he is, imagine an in control drunken fist lee opening even 2 gates.. Not looking good for him ATM though. Will TenTen get there in time? **

**Kankuro bringing a mini-mechwarrior onto the battlefield? no fair..:P at least it isnt firing energy rifles.. yet..:P**

**Everyone else has had a signature moment stolen, only Fair Akari falls victim to it too..heh **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**(Builds a shelter strong enough to repel a Bijuu Bomb from the Juubi) Think that will preserve us from drunk Lee with a few gates open?**

**Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros:**

**YES! You have once again proven beyond a shadow of doubt that you are well versed in the "Art of the Written Word" **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Was there EVER any doubt? :P**

**falcoknights:**

**Keep up the good work. Tobi and issac closet perverts how funny. Can't wait to see the new pup in action. And all the follow ups on the progressing fights. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**The puppet gets a little better over time.**

**ShadowSlicer2013:**

**So far this is an awesome story so far! this is my first review as i had to go through all the trouble of creating an account just to review this story. And don't worry Author-sama! I will protect you from rabid fans! *Kagebunshin no Justu* *poof* We will protect you! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Nice to have someone else saying this is the first time they reviewed my story!**

**mellra:**

**Wow, you had both funny and serious moments in this story, good job! Can't wait to see the next chapter where I'm guessing the Suna invasion will be comming to a close. Keep on being awsome (keeps the double barreled RPG close just in case)! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Not quite, the Suna invasion will end the chapter after this one, and something else big will go down right afterwards.**

**Helen delia:**

**like always your chapter was awesome...I really don't know still how you blend comic scenes, dramatically scenes,and serious scenes...anyway the most amusing part was the one when tobi and isaac read icha icha...but tobi shouldn't use that opportunity to attack isaac? I mean obito is focused on his tobi personna that he will not kill an enemy? **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**And take the fun out of the situation? Don't you know me after 69 previous cahpters?**

**gameipedia:**

**Can sakura get her memories after this? Ihonestly think she deserves it because really her win vs sasori was her only useful thing with major impact that happened the entire show/manga **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**She'll get her memories back soon enough. **

**Uzumaki Clan Leader:**

**Thanks for the response. To be honest, I have no idea. I can hardly remember five minutes ago XD**

**Great chapter as usual, I was really happy that Drakmus would live. He's just such a badass :p The Icha-Icha scene with Isaac and Tobi was hilarious, it had me on the ground laughing, lol. Keep up the good work, and update soon!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I agree that my character is a badass. He is my personal favorite actually, just because of his level of power that lets him more than hold his own with the greatest of the Bijuu, Kurama. And as to the fact that you were on the ground laughing, that was the idea, lol.**

**So, I read the latest manga chapter and that is a rather interesting background for the Jubi and the Rikudou Sennin. Obviously, I will have to figure out a way to incorporate that into my story, but I may have written myself into a corner. I may just have to disregard the Shinju, or the God Tree altogether if I can't figure a way to put it in the story. That's the problem with writing fics when the story is still ongoing! Luckily, I already have a few ideas, ones that may improve my story if I decide to go with them…**

**So once again, I am drawing attention to the fact that I am looking for fan art for my OCs… I was actually holding out for a rendering of Felix for my Profile pic to be honest… If anyone is interested, or you know someone who might be, please PM me and I will PM the details of their appearance to you. Please let me see my characters come to life!**

**The battle in Suna will come to an end next chapter! Please Review! Let's try to double my goal before the story ends! **


	71. Chapter 70: End of Suna Invasion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: I now have over 500 favorites! Yay!**

**Already decided to add the Shinju to my story, and the plot has been altered a bit. I had a rather awesome idea that I came up with on the fly. Honestly, it seems good to me and it was actually somewhat easy to do, almost if I actually planned to put it into my story from the get go, it went in that easily. Hopefully, no other major twists will occur that will have me writing myself into a corner. There will be a bit of a teaser on it at the end of this chapter.**

**Chapter 70: End of Suna Invasion**

Caius snarled as the injury in his shoulder all but vanished as the flesh knitted back together. The two kunoichi who had interrupted his fight with Lee stood about twenty feet away in front of him, one of them already having an arrow nocked on her bow. "Well, well, little miss Hinata, I expected to see you again. And who is your friend here?"

**(A/N: OST Hurricane Suite plays)**

"Hinata, Tenten, what are you two doing here?" Lee demanded as he looked past Caius at them.

"Honestly Lee, you are so hopeless sometimes," Tenten said as she unsealed several more throwing weapons and a chain to use as well. "Did you really think that I would let you just run off on your own to handle a foe that had a lot of sway on the entire battle? Even if you got here long before we did, we were able to catch up with you. And apparently Hinata wanted to settle a score with the guy controlling the corpses, which is why she came with."

Hinata blushed slightly and said, "That's not it. It's just that I failed to defeat him before, and wanted to prove to myself that I had gotten stronger so Naruto wouldn't have to worry about me."

"Well, isn't that sweet," Caius said as he pulled out a scroll and released about thirty more of his special corpses and had a tentacle write the instructions in his blood on it. "But I am afraid that you won't be fighting me. As it happened before, you will tire yourself out tearing my creations to shreds and be finished easily. Just because you have a friend this time will not change the fact that you can't beat me. Now if you excuse me, I have a fight with another brat that I would like to finish."

The creatures stalked towards Hinata and Tenten, the latter of whom asked, "Just what is that monstrosity anyway?" She was referring to Caius's new twisted form.

"I don't know," Hinata said as she activated her Byakugan and reached for her seemingly empty quiver. The seal in it responded to the presence of her hand, and an exploding sealed arrow came into the quiver. She then channeled some chakra into her hand and the seal released several more, which she quickly grabbed and fired in rapid succession, blowing about four of the creatures to useless pieces. "He looked nothing like this when I fought him before. Lee, did he make some kind of modifications to his body!?" she shouted the last part to the taijutsu master as Lee steeled himself and opened the third and fourth gates and turned red skinned, veins popping as he did."

"He placed some kind of parasite on the back of his neck that caused him to mutate!" Lee shouted as he kicked at Caius, who easily deflected the blow. Lee then managed to throw a punch that slammed right into Caius's cheek and knocked his head to the side, but Caius merely wrapped a tendril around Lee's waist and used it to slam the boy headfirst into the ground, blasting out a crater.

"Lee!" Tenten shouted as she unsealed some more exploding spiked balls and got rid of a few more of the things. Hinata was then able to sneak a Rasenken arrow past the corpses and sever the tendril that held Lee as Caius suspended the lad upside down. Caius snarled and regenerated the tendril, but Lee had already gotten away.

Tenten then unsealed an axe and proceeded to hack and cut at the corpses as Hinata continued to unseal a nearly endless supply of exploding arrows and expertly placed them in places where the maximum effect would be had. The blasts helped whittle the herd down quite a bit. Meanwhile, Lee had opened gate number five and kicked Caius into the air again. He then proceeded to use his amazing speed to attempt to pummel Caius in midair.

Caius merely smirked as he sprouted wings and righted himself, knocking Lee down to the ground. What he did not realize was that Lee had managed to wrap him up in his bandages and used them to keep from falling all the way. Caius tried to tear the bandages off, but before he could, he took a brutal kick in the gut from Lee, who yanked himself back up to the flying Caius and used the momentum in combination with his insane strength with five gates open. Lee used the kick to push himself to the side of a building, which he then used as a springboard to get above Caius in the air while using his bandages to swing Caius exactly beneath him and then yank him up.

"Reverse Lotus!" Lee shouted and smashed his fist and foot simultaneously into his foe's gut, and Caius was blasted hard into the ground with earth shattering force. However, when the dust cleared, Caius was still standing, with only mild damage from the attack, the only sign he had been hurt at all being a slight trickle of blood coming from his mouth before stopping.

Lee mentally cursed. All of his strongest moves were only doing minor damage to his opponent in this state, and even that regenerated. Not only that, but his body was beginning to give out on him already. His last wind would be opening the Gate of View, and hopefully hitting Caius with Asakujaku and doing enough damage to tip the scales for Hinata and Tenten when they finished the cannon fodder.

"Come on and hit me with your best shot," Caius said as he grew two additional arms as well as a spiked tail. It was clear he was shape shifting to mimic Drakmus to a certain extent.

"Sixth Gate, Gate of View, Open!" Lee shouted and ran right at Caius, shouting, "Asakujaku!"

Caius began backing up as Lee began pelting him with a flurry of punches that ignited the air and hit with enough force to stun a Bijuu. Caius deflected as many blows as he could, but eventually, Lee's punches smashed into his torso at a rapid pace, and Caius was thrown back through several buildings, smoking as he went. Lee collapsed and panted, adding a few groans of pain occasionally.

Caius growled in discomfort as he got up, smoking craters in his flesh where Lee's fists had hit him already closing, though slower than his other wounds had healed, likely due to the fact that the wounds were more severe.

Lee looked up at Caius with blurry vision and forced himself back to his feet, but almost passed out from the effort. Caius snorted and stalked towards Lee, intent on finishing the youth off, before his right side was peppered with several exploding tagged kunai and a few Rasenken arrows. He snarled as he whipped around, wounds already healing as he saw Hinata and Tenten walk past the dismembered cannon fodder.

"I have enough arrows to take care of your horrible shields," Hinata said as she pointed another Rasenken arrow at Caius. She fired it and it struck her foe in the chest, only to fall uselessly to the ground after Caius formed a carapace over the targeted area.

…..

Gaara checked the seal on the area he had trapped the Sandaime and nodded with satisfaction. The Kazekage would not be getting out without very good outside help, nor would the Edo Tensei user be able to summon him again. He turned to where his father and Orochimaru were supposed to be fighting and ran in that direction, praying that his Sand Clone would get to the chamber where they stored the pot Shukaku had been kept in and move it to somewhere more secure before the enemy could get to it.

…

Orochimaru hissed as he once again narrowly avoided a wave of golden dust that threatened to bind and seal him. He sent a few Earth Bullets at Hikaru, who shielded himself with gold before leaping away from a few snakes that had tried to bite his feet while he was distracted.

Orochimaru summoned a few large snakes, ones big enough to swallow a man and they struck out at Hikaru in midair, but only got mouthfuls of gold dust as it turned out Hikaru was a Gold Clone again. "You will have to do better than that!" the Yondaime shouted as he sent a slash of gold at the three snakes and decapitated them with that one attack.

"Kukuku, as if you are doing any better against me, though I have to admit, you are proving much more difficult than the last time we fought one another." He then noticed there was a slight sparkle in the air. "Hmmm? It seems that your gold dust is lingering in the air a bit…"

"Figure out what you are in for yet?" Hikaru asked as he blazed through several signs, and Orochimaru's eyes widened. "Lightning Style: Atomic Storm!" **(A/N: I don't know what the two elements that make up magnetic style are, but I would make an educated guess that lightning is one of them, so naturally, that means Hikaru should have a few lightning jutsu up his sleeve. He also uses wind style because of Suna's reputation for them) **All of the gold particles in the air suddenly became supercharged with a great deal of voltage. It should be noted that gold is the third best conductor of electricity, the second being silver and the first being copper. As such, with all the gold particles in the air around Orochimaru, the next thing the Snake Sannin knew, he was in the middle of a devastating personal lightning storm, his Edo Tensei body actually being shredded by the jutsu.

After the jutsu ended, the damaged Sannin landed in a heap on the ground, his snakes already helping to regenerate in addition to the Edo Tensei factor. As this happened, gold dust pinned him and crept up his body, making it look like he was going to be sealed for sure.

As the gold dust crept up Orochimaru's body, Hikaru pulled out a scroll with a sealing tagged kunai in it. "This ends here," Hikaru said as he prepared to throw it the moment Orochimaru was completely encased.

"Don't be so sure," Orochimaru said with a smirk once only his face was still visible. Then he shed his skin immediately before the dust could cover his mouth and dashed at the surprised Kazekage, his Kusanagi blade extended from his mouth and aiming for his foe's heart.

Hikaru would have once again perished at Orochimaru's hands then and there had it not been for the fact that regular sand wrapped around Orochimaru's wrists and stopped his forward lunge, as well as forcing the Kusanagi blade to point another way in order to prevent Orochimaru's hasty extension of the blade from finishing the job. The Snake hissed and turned to see Gaara standing on a Sand Cloud and staring intently at Orochimaru.

Before Orochimaru could comment, Hikaru attacked with some more gold dust and forced the Sannin back. The Kazekage cursed his lack of foresight at the moment. He had completely forgotten about that disgusting shed skin ability of Orochimaru's! If he got another chance, he would have to make sure to cover Orochimaru's mouth before anything else to prevent it from happening again.

…..

"Hahaha, it has been far too long since I could go nuts like this!" Zabuza shouted elatedly as he cut a few of the corpses Caius used to bloody ribbons.

"Hey, do you think Zabuza-Sensei is enjoying himself a bit TOO much?" Genyumaru asked as he smashed in the front leg of a Chimera with his main spiked ball and chain.

"He gets like this when he hasn't had a chance to kill something for too long," Haku said, freezing a few of the corpses to keep them from moving.

Genyumaru dashed over and shattered them with a punch while Haku used ice style to freeze the Chimera's remaining feet to the ground and used an ice spear to impale the snake headed tail that the Chimera tried to strike him with in that moment in retaliation. "Where's Kin at?" Genyumaru asked.

"She is one of the people that Naruto-san evacuated with his clones and Hiraishin I believe," Haku said. "She should be safe."

Naruto's clone meanwhile was fighting three of the remaining Chimeras with Gamabunta, Gamaken and Gamahiro around to assist him. A few nameless Edo Tensei tried to harry the blonde, but he stabbed them with Seishinhoruda and every time he did so, the jutsu was canceled out. Naruto had made this blade with the Rinnegan for the specific purpose of defeating Edo Tensei. Similar to Itachi's Totsuka Blade, anything Seishinhoruda stabbed that had a soul had said soul extracted and sealed within the gemstones on the hilt. A user of Human Path could actually communicate with the souls sealed in it, giving Naruto access to a good amount of knowledge should he need it. Any souls captured by a clone blade would be transferred to the original as well.

The souls could later be released by anyone who knew how to work the seals on the hilt, and returned to the Pure Realm, but Naruto had no intention of doing so with some of his more powerful foes until both Caius and Kabuto had been dealt with, so the souls of the blade's victims would not be abused again.

The monumental creatures continued to clash until two of the Chimeras were impaled and pinned together by a very large Susanoo Arrow. The remaining Chimera then had to worry about the fact that a Susanoo covered snake came out of nowhere and sank its fags into him, and the four Amaterasu blades impaled it and it was soon burned to less than a crisp.

"Took ya long enough Teme," Naruto said. "Anything interesting happen?"

"Not really, but there is someone I need sealed before an enemy can reclaim him. Care to have a clone follow me?"

"No problem," Naruto said as he made a low powered clone. Sasuke made a clone of his own to assist with the battle here and the original led the way for Naruto's clone.

…..

Gaara's Sand Clone reached the chamber where they stored some of the village's most important treasures and cursed. The door there was already ajar, and the pot was missing. The clone punched the wall in frustration and cursed.

…

"Kankuro, do not let that iron sand touch the Black Warrior in any way," Chiyo warned. "That sand's magnetic properties will render puppets useless."

"Yeah, got it," Kankuro said with a gulp as he guided Black Warrior out of the way of the giant black cube that Sasori used to try to crush it.

"It is pointless you know," Sasori said. "This is the favorite of my collection. He was hard to finish, but that made him more than worth it."

The cube came dangerously close to cornering Kankuro and Black Warrior, but Sakura was able to kick the cube aside. Chiyo meanwhile used the Mother and Father puppets to try to catch Sasori off guard and managed to sever a few puppet strings. The Kazekage faltered and Sakura hit it right in the chest with one of her more powerful punches. Unfortunately, the Kazekage was reinforced with some of Drakmus's metal as well, so Sakura could only manage to put a few scratches on it. Even so, the blow sent the Kazekage right back at Sasori, who momentarily toppled with his puppet. It would have been a bit comical seeing him frantically trying to avoid getting too badly tangled if this had not been a life or death situation.

With a snarl, he was able to right himself in time to knock Black Warrior aside with his tail, only and sent some iron sand at it in retaliation for the attack, only to find that Kankuro was very stupidly running right at him while controlling Black Warrior. Sasori smirked and sent his tail to impale Kankuro, who dodged, and cast a few quick signs.

Next thing Sasori knew, it was Black Warrior running at him, and Kankuro was covered by the Father puppet using a Chakra Shield to defend him from the iron sand that had been after Black Warrior. While that would disable the puppet, Kankuro had used the Substitution Jutsu perfectly to get Black Warrior close to Sasori.

Several cords came from Black Warrior and basically tied it and Sasori tight together. Sasori snarled at the awkward position, but he was still able to control the Kazekage with little issue. It would not take too long for him to get free before Sakura and Chiyo would be able to land a blow on him, because they were too busy dealing with the iron sand at the moment.

What he was not counting on was one of Black Warrior's hands disassembling and revealing a seal meant for holding chakra. Sasori's eyes widened. It looked like one of those prototype seals for a specially made cannon to fire a beam of chakra at an enemy. While it was clear that it would not work the way it was supposed to, because not even Sasori had ever been able to figure out the method of making the cannon work, and this design did not look any better, it was what it was going to do that concerned Sasori. Because this design exploded with many times the force of a well-made tag. **(A/N: Cookie for anyone who can guess where this idea came from!)**

BOOM!

…

Deidara stood on his mount with his visible eye wide and his hand making a seal quivering. "What the- I can't move, and my chakra isn't cooperating!" he shouted in fear as he noticed the spider bomb he had planted on Alex fall off like a puppet whose strings were cut, though Deidara's mount was still flying. "What did you do!?"

Alex casually stood on his mount and said, "In case you forgot, my power allows me to control my blood." He showed Deidara the Blood Claws again. "Surely you can figure out the rest."

"But how am I- wait, are you saying that when you cut me a second ago…"

"That's right. Some of my blood is now in your bloodstream, and I was able to cut off the flow of chakra with it that allows you to detonate your clay, though I am still making sure your chakra moves in a way that allows your mount to continue flying."

"Why… would you do that?" Deidara said as his hands began to move against his will, forming clay bombs.

"Because with your body now under my control, you can help me take care of that far faster," Alex said, pointing to where a Chimera and a few corpses were still wreaking havoc, even with a few shinobi there to try to hinder them. "Get to it."

With that, Deidara helplessly threw bombs into the midst of his ally's forces, and Alex was also using his blood to rend several foes apart.

**(A/N: End OST)**

…..

Sasori snarled as he leapt back, smoking from the explosive force. During the diversion the explosion had caused, his strings had been cut from the Kazekage, and before he could reassert control over it, Kankuro beat him to it, and now his own puppet was being used against him, though it was clearly trial and error on Kankuro's part to figure out how the iron sand worked. Meanwhile, Sakura had ran at Sasori, using the Substitution Jutsu to replace herself with the smoldering remains of Black Warrior, and smashed her fist right into where Sasori's heart was, and the metal casing cracked, having been weakened by the recent blast, and a few chips fell out, but the casing held enough for Sakura's fist to do no more than draw some blood from the organ.

"Seems I have little choice but to use my entire collection against you," Sasori said as he removed a piece of his chest and unsealed a hundred puppets, strings attaching themselves to the weapons from the revealed cavity. "Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"

"Holy shit that's a lot of puppets!" Kankuro shouted in fear of Sasori's abilities. He knew that with only the Sandaime Kazekage under his control, impressive as the puppet was, he would be overwhelmed fast. Chiyo saw this and pulled out a special scroll of her own giving a nod to Kankuro to take control of the Mother and Father puppets. He did so, and Sakura formed a few seals, causing five Mud Clones to rise from the ground.

Chiyo then unsealed ten puppets and Kankuro's eyes widened. "Those are… the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets…"

"A slightly impressive force," Sasori mused as he looked at the thirteen puppets on his opponent's side and the six Sakuras. "But you are still outnumbered nearly five to one if you count the puppet masters on your side. Time to finish this!"

**(A/N: Heavy Violence Plays)**

What happened next was total pandemonium. Kankuro and Sakura were basically doing their best to fight off all of the puppets that came their way, Kankuro finding himself being drained of chakra rather fast as he inexpertly spammed iron sand from his stolen puppet, and used the Mother and Father to cover the original Sakura and the Kazekage, while Chiyo was using her ten puppets to the best of her ability to take out as many of Sasori's as possible.

Three of her puppets formed a vortex that sucked in a good number of enemy puppets, but more kept coming. It was clear that while Sasori could only control 100 puppets at a time, he was clearly not above unsealing others to control as he lost them, and there was no telling when the battle would come to an end.

Two puppets tried to attack Chiyo, but the one she kept close by smashed them to bits. A single one of her puppets in the middle got mobbed by five and was disassembled as a result. Three of Sakura's Mud Clones managed to take out nearly twenty of the puppets, but were defeated. The original was also quickly tiring, though she was managing to avoid every single attack aimed her way. Regardless, it was not going to last long at this rate.

"Sakura, we need to hit Sasori himself if we are to win!" Kankuro shouted, and she nodded. Chiyo agreed as well and sent a puppet with one eye to Sakura, and it opened its mouth to give Sakura a sphere, which she took and ran at Sasori, while Kankuro sent his puppets to cover her. After a bit more fighting, Sasori had about thirty puppets attempt to block off Sakura, but she had other ideas. While Kankuro used his borrowed puppets to buy her a few seconds, she raced through signs.

"Earth Style: Terra Shield!" the large stone slab rose up and she kicked it right at the mob between her and Sasori. Though the effort winded her, and took up most of her remaining reserves, she was able to then grab onto the Mother puppet, who then made a Chakra Shield that she could use as a springboard and got close enough to hurl the orb right at the surprised Sasori, who was caught dead on and ended up pinned to a wall of a building in the center of a complex sealing matrix.

**(A/N: End OST)**

"Hah, we got him!" Kankuro shouted as he withdrew the puppets he controlled in response to the puppets Sasori controlled falling in a heap.

Chiyo also sighed in relief. She resealed her collection of fabled puppets. "Guys, wait, his flesh piece is missing!" Sakura shouted frantically. Chiyo's eyes widened and she turned around in time to see a puppet rising with said piece in his own chest and run at her with katana in hand. She would not be abel to dodge in time… then she felt a tug from behind as Kankuro reacted fast and yanked her back with his puppet strings, but in the process, he relinquished control of the Sandaime, and none of the other puppets or Sakura were close enough to intervene.

As a result, Sasori was able to dash at Kankuro, who was too slow in backing up. He feebly raised his left arm in an attempt to ward Sasori off on reflex. He was rewarded for his efforts with Sasori swinging his sword savagely and severing Kankuro's arm clean off, and deeply cutting his chest. Kankuro screamed in pain as he fell back and tried to stem the blood flow from the stump of his arm.

Sasori pressed his obvious advantage, only for Chiyo to recover in time to rush between Sasori and Kankuro and block his next attack with a chakra shield from her right arm, which Kankuro dimly recognized as an artificial construct.

"So you modified your own body as well, even if it is only an arm, eh Granny?" Sasori said. "It seems that you and I are more alike than you care to admit."

"Perhaps," Chiyo said as Sakura rushed up behind Sasori and knocked him heavily to the ground with a sweeping kick that took his legs out from under him. Before he could react any further, Chiyo took control of Mother and Father, and had them stab into the gaps of his heart casing that Sakura had opened, impaling the puppet puppet master's last tie to physical humanity.

Sasori's eyes widened and Chiyo looked down at her grandson sadly. "But we are also different in what matters. I came close, very close indeed, but I have yet to fully abandon what is really important. You however abandoned as much as you could. I am sorry I had to kill you, my own grandson, but…

"After all the things I have done in my long life, the current generation has a lot of mistakes of my generation to clean up. The least I can do is remove at least some of the mess and make things better for them. And I will live the remainder of my days to try to leave this new generation a better world than what I would have initially given them. As long as you lived, you would have made such a dream harder to attain."

"What has gotten into you Chiyo?" Sasori chucked weakly. "This is not like you in the slightest. To think, you used to be so stubborn, only caring about your own nation, and nothing else, and then not caring at all after I left. What changed?"

"I simply saw the potential in the next generation," Chiyo said sadly. "Potential you had, and wasted on your mad desires and goals. You failed to understand what true art was in the end."

Sasori gave one last laugh before he lay still. Sakura looked up from the task of healing Kankuro she had busied herself with earlier and said, "I was able to staunch the bleeding, but I also had to remove a good portion of poison. We will need an antidote to do the rest."

"Then let's get him to a safe place until we can get one prepared," Chiyo replied as Sakura put Kankuro over her shoulder.

…

Caius continued to laugh as more and more projectiles that were sent at him were deflected by his shell, and he whipped a tendril around to smack Tenten aside as he turned to face Hinata, who decided to forgo the bow at this point and rush in to use her Hurricane Fist. Caius narrowed his eyes at this point, knowing full well that a good hit from that taijutsu style would shred both his physical body and his chakra network, and he would not be healing from the damage if that was to occur. So he could not afford to let Hinata get close to him. He sent several tendrils at her, with the intent to impale her before she could get near him. She stopped her charge as the tendrils surrounded her and began to spin fast.

"Hariken Kaiten!" she shouted, channeling her wind and water chakra into the rotating dome and causing all of Caius's tendrils to get painfully shredded. However, Caius still smirked, and the moment Hinata stopped spinning, several tendrils he had burrowed burst from the ground and impaled Hinata through the back, having caught her in her blind spot.

The smirk slid from Caius's face when Hinata disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Where is-," he started to ask, but his got his answer when Hinata landed on the ground behind him, having used the Kaiten as a diversion to leap in the air while Caius's vision had been obscured by the dome her clone had risen. She must have made said clone when he had knocked Tenten aside.

Before he could do anything else, Hinata roared as she slammed her palm right into the parasite on the back of Caius's neck, bursting the creature almost instantly with her chakra. Caius's perspective went completely white and he began twitching violently as pain beyond anything he ever experienced racked his body before he fell dead. Hinato wasted no time in taking all scrolls from Caius and shredding them with wind chakra, ending the undead part of the invasion, though they still had to worry about his Edo Tensei.

Hinata then immediately rushed to Lee, and sent a clone to Tenten to tend to their injuries. As she started to heal Lee, her eyes widened as she saw nine coffins rise from the ground around Caius. Eight Edo Tensei formed a barrier while the ninth was a Shikkokyo, who used the secret clan techniques and soon had Caius brought back, and weakly rising before a tenth Edo Tensei arrived with some kind of antique pot and handed it to his master.

Caius then made a seal to recall his Edo Tensei before stepping into a Dimension Door.

…

Isaac woke up feeling like shit and looked groggily at Tobi, who was also coming to after what Alex and Deidara did to them. "Oh god, please tell me that we didn't do "it" last night," Isaac said in a horrified tone as he and Tobi's gazes met.

Tobi merely stared at him for a second before shivering unconsciously and he disappeared with Kamui before any more brain cells could be killed by their interactions.

….

Naruto and Sasuke cursed as they arrived to where Izuna lay, only to see a coffin rise from the ground and reclaim Madara's brother. "Great, this means we will have to fight him again," Sasuke said as Naruto sheathed his blade with an angry look on his face.

….

Itachi, Azami, Kushina and Baki stood with several Sand shinobi panting as they saw the Edo Tensei they had been fighting reclaimed by the coffins that Caiusused. While Itachi had sealed many with his Susanoo, more had kept coming until now. The battle for Suna had ended.

…..

"I suppose you are now at my mercy," Alex said to Deidara, who was now quivering in both fear and his futile attempts to move now that the invasion was over. Alex thought for a second and said, "It would be better to take you prisoner. You are too dangerous to release, and I would rather not fight you as an Edo Tensei, so killing you here and now is also out of the-." He got no further as a vortex suddenly appeared and an arm emerged and grabbed Deidara, pulling him though and away from Alex before the Chihanshu could react.

…

Gaara and his father both panted as a cornered Orochimaru looked with amusement at his coffin that came to reclaim him. "Hmm, it seems that I will be leaving now, but I would rather not do so under another's control," Orochimaru said as he formed a seal that Gaara had seen Madara do once before. Gaara's eyes widened as Orochimaru laughed and said, "Release!" The coffin shattered as the summoning contract was severed. He then quickly formed several seals and shouted, "Summoning Jutsu!"

Gaara cursed as about five very large snakes appeared to attack. By the time he and Hikaru were able to kill all of them, Orochimaru had already fled.

….

Caius stepped out of the Dimension Door rift to the area he and Drakmus had agreed to rendezvous if things had gone south during the invasion, and muttered to himself, "Drakmus had better have killed a few of the bastards for me, because that was an outright fiasco on our parts." He rubbed the back of his head where the parasite had stuck its needle into his neck before he had been killed by that Hyuuga girl.

He looked around the canyon he had come out in and did not see Drakmus anywhere. "Strange," Caius said. "He should have been here by now, and he is not the type to go for a stroll while waiting on me… did he actually lose to someone?" His eyes then fell upon the ground where he saw an Akatsuki robe that Drakmus had removed and sealed in anticipation of the battle to keep it from getting damaged. There was also his Akatsuki ring there.

"Huh, seems he found some reason to abandon us, huh?" Caius asked, seemingly to himself, and actually getting an answer from another voice in his head.

**"It is of no concern. If he does not return to us, he will die, either if he tries to interfere with our plans, or if he cowers and we hunt him down after I regain my body and reclaim all that is mine."**

"True, but he was a valuable asset all the same," Caius replied to the voice in his head, which seemed to have the form of a mixed Sharingan and Rinnegan in the mind of the Shikkokyo. The eye was a solid red, and had concentric rings, the three innermost rings having three tomoe in them.

**"With or without Drakmus, my aim will remain the same. After all, I still have you and Raizen as my loyal servants. Everything will still go off without a hitch as long as I have Raizen at least. For that, I still need you as a revival contingency in case our enemies mange to kill him. If Drakmus truly does turn out to be important enough for us to need him for my goals, all that is needed is for him to be killed and brought back with your jutsu."**

"Yes, there is that, Shinju-Sama," Caius said with a smirk on his face. He then opened a Dimension Door to return to Raizen and report the initial failure of the Ichibi's capture, but the success of getting a good portion of the creature's chakra. After all, the Ichibi was the weakest Bijuu, so it was the best choice for having an incomplete portion of chakra for, even if the whole thing was preferable.

He stepped through the door, the invasion of Suna over.

**A/N: Ah, Reviews. It is worth answering them in exchange for getting them…**

**Qwertyboy123:**

**Nice chapter I was wandering is kankuro still goin to use sasori as a puppet after he dies ? **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yes, and he will be using the Sandaime Kazekage as well, along with his Black Warrior, once he perfects Black Warrior. **

**ShadowSlicer2013:**

**NO! Not Alex! He was at least on the "might be super cool later on" list. I mean, who else goes against the beliefs of your entire family? Well, at the very least i know you have an idea of what you are doing so it probably wont end to terribly bad. Any how, will Naruto and Hinata get legitimately married in this story? If so you should have an entire chapter/half chapter on just the wedding day. It would be crazy with how everyone would react. I can see Sakuro pouting in a corner now. WOW! that ended up being a longer review than i planned, sorry about that. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**You did not really think I would kill the guy, did you? Too much on his character to leave anything hanging, trust me. Yes, they will be married, and so will Sasuke and Sakura, if they both survive, but I won't spoil that. And it is fine if you leave long reviews, because I am glad to have any reviews, except for flames. **

**Death-Prince-3:**

**Oh well Pity I was not 1000...Though you know what would have been awesome? If the VERY first Reviewer of this Story did that...It would be like...symbolic? Any-who Wonderful chapter as ALWAYS, and Caius just...sickens me I guess...Hope Lee KICKS HIS AAAAAAAAAASS! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I believe the first reviewer in this story was Firefly in the Mist, but he has not given me word since. I don't know if he is even still reading this story. And I am glad that Caius sickens you. I was trying to make a depraved character on Orochimaru's moral level, and this tells me that I was successful. **

**Uzumaki Clan Leader:**

**Nice chapter as usual. I honestly can't see Asakujaku doing much day age to Caius as he is right now. Maybe something like his fight with Kimmimaro will happen.**

**I just realized something. There's going to be Fuu and Yugito, as well as Markus, who you said was strong enough to rival the strongest piece of the Juubi, Bee with control over the Gyuki, and Naruto with control over Kurama. The Juubi is screwed :p **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Yeah, I almost feel sorry for the Juubi myself. But it will not be easy to overcome it still. **

**Abdullahsaurus:**

**I Know what you can do you could incorporate the god tree by saying that it supported the worlds and then somebody bought it to this world so the worlds were going to collapse and then rikudo got back a small sampling after sealing it in him and the thing survived but then it dies so they all want to get it before it breaks **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I already have a plan now, but that is an interesting suggestion.**

** FlameDragon14:**

**This has been great and all with Tobi fighting with comedy and seeing the very face palm worthy 'how did we not notice that' shtick with Sasori. However, I am more interested in seeing your idea for Naruto sharing his six path powers... I just got the image of Hinata summoning Godzilla and telling it to destroy The village hidden in the Rain with Godzilla mistaking it for Tokyo... **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**If you wanted to see that, Naruto would have to make Isaac his Animal Path.**

**SkyRune:**

**rasEnshur1Ken-sama, wonderful chapter as always. I believe that there is a way to use the Shinju by using Narutos sister and Harashima as "seeds" since I believe that they are in a sense related to the second son. and also having Madara saying "The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, they sealed their fate... Entrusting their future to Chakra, man clings to a dim hope." as a little more background and insight as to what is to come. I hope that this helps you in some way. U can do it. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Also interesting, but still sticking to my own plan, though I can work something with Madara in.**

**Titokhan:**

**Yay, Lee is saved.. I was at least partially right about TenTen. spiraling chakra arrow? who could that be hmm? drawing a blank. drat (or not :P) Wonder what other tricks Caius has up his relatively undead sleeves to deal with Kohona's weapons mistress and our favorite indigo haired archer?**

**why have Gaara go after the pot Shukaku is sealed in when he isn't in someone? hmm, I wonder. **

**not accustomed to saying this, but Sasuke kicked major ass there. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**There is still chakra in the pot that could be used to revive the Juubi, so Gaara had to try to secure it, but failed.**

**Falcoknights:**

**keep up the good work... the pup isn't to bad so far i am looking forward to how you develop it. Also looking forward to the next ch. all ready. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I hope this chapter met your expectations.**

**Mellra:**

**Awsome! Nice foreshadowing with Gaara at the end there, and very epic fight scenes! I just had a thought, with Nagato against the plan now, they won't be able to extract the Biju thanks to not having the Rinnegan to power the Gedou Mezou (that how you spell it?). That'll put all their plans on hold and give the hero's time to rescue the captured jinchuriki until Obito gets a replacement Rinnegan or has Kabuto use Madara's. Can't wait to see the next chapter!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**True, but there is a reason I played Madara so soon.**

**So much fighting! It was almost too much, and I still have a Yugito Retrieval Mission to do! And don't even get me started on what technique I am wanting to get to revealing! **

**So I won't be revealing the full extent of the Shinju's involvement just yet. But I hope the teaser was enough to start some speculation. And yes, I know that the Juubi's eye has only six tome, not nine in canon, but I will have an explanation in a while, so please refrain from commenting.**

**Please Review! Glad as I am to have reached the 1k mark, there are a ton of stars in my eyes whenever I think of 2k!**


	72. Chapter 71: The Butterfly Effect

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: Sorry this took so long, there was a bit of an accident involving my flash drive and a washing machine when I had been almost done with this chapter before.**

**Chapter 71: The Butterfly Effect**

"So you guys are going back to Amegakure then?" Naruto asked on the outskirts of Kumogakure. Konan was currently supporting Nagato with one of his arms around her shoulders. A paper coffin with Yahiko's corpse was floating next to them.

"Yes, but we will return to fight soon enough," Nagato said. "First I will need to regain the muscle memory of my legs or I will be little more than dead weight in combat without my Paths. Of course, if it weren't for you helping to heal me, I would still have to face the fact I would not walk again."

"It was no issue," Naruto said with a grin. "And you still managed to give me, Itachi and B a rather hard time when we fought in that same state."

"Even so, the fact that I was unable to dodge Itachi's Susanoo blade was my undoing in that fight, or rather our enemy's undoing."

"True enough. Get well soon."

Nagato nodded before he removed his arm from around Konan's shoulders to reach for a scroll he had in the folds of the robe he had donned before they left the cave. He then focused some of his chakra into the scroll and a map of the elemental nations with several locations marked on it.

"Here. I marked the locations of all the hideouts on this. It may help you find the jinchuriki that were captured on time to help save them."

"Neat trick," Naruto said as he took the scroll from Nagato. "I should have enough time to find them, especially if you won't help them seal the Bijuu. They need a Rinnegan for that right? Be careful then. Obito may just come after yours."

Both of his sibling students nodded.

"As soon as you are done attempting to rescue the jinchuriki, please come to Ame," Konan said as she once again supported Nagato.

"Yes, we have much to discuss," Nagato said before his expression became a bit sadder. "And if you would, could you also possibly bring…" He trailed off.

"Yeah, I think I will take Ero-Sennin with me when I come. And now that you have your own memories back, I think the risk of him getting himself killed to reach you is gone, so we can restore his memories as well."

"Ero-Sennin?" both Nagato and Konan chuckled at once.

"Yeah, Fukusaku told me the name fits too," Naruto laughed. They then spent a few seconds enjoying a good chuckle at their teacher's expense.

….

It was still rather chaotic in Iwa, as several shinobi milled around trying to figure out what to do. Jiraiya and Minato headed for the hospital are of the village, Minato carrying Onoki over his shoulder. Both were wondering whether the aged Tsuchikage would recover from the severe genjutsu induced trauma.

Jiraiya then paused and said, "Strange."

"What is?" Minato asked.

"I just had the strange urge to strangle three students of mine, and you aren't one of them… eh, it's probably nothing."

Minato deadpanned at the statement before he said, "Regardless of your strange senses, we need to track down the Akatsuki right now. Summon a few toads and try to get them to pick up a trail."

Jiraiya nodded and summoned three small toads that headed out at a rather fast pace.

"Gramps!" a voice shouted and both Jiraiya and Minato looked up in time to see a black haired kunoichi drop out of the sky, as if she had just flown. Minato also noted that there was a strange sealing matrix on her cheek, but he pushed that thought aside. The kunoichi landed next to them and Minato set Onoki down. He then sighed as he thought about how to explain to Onoki's granddaughter what happened to him.

…..

"Are you seriously still reading that smut, even when we are on the road!?" Ceilia demanded of Kakashi as they walked along the road to Kumo, on the mission to get A and B their memories back. Hayate and Yugao were their backup.

The relationship between Hayate and Yugao had gotten to the next level by this point, as they were happily married and Yugao had only just been allowed on active duty again due to having given birth to their child a few months ago. It was a girl with her father's hair color and named Haruka. It was a bit difficult for them both to leave their daughter for a mission, but Tsunade, who was acting Hokage in the absence of Minato and Itachi, made certain that Haruka would be taken care of.

Hayate was in much better health than ever before. After Tsunade had cured his chronic bronchitis, he no longer woke up in the middle of the night coughing all the time. As a result, he had a bit of a livelier appearance, and the bags, or as Yugao called them, luggage, under his eyes were long gone.

Kakashi chuckled as he said, "What can I say, it's just a part of who I am. And besides, you should know that I "perform" better with the "inspiration."" He giggled perversely and buried himself in the book again as Hayate developed a sudden relapse of his coughing, strangely enough at the same time as Yugao coughed as well.

Ceilia developed a tick mark as she imagined the teasing she would get from those two later on. Despite her best efforts to cure Kakashi, he proved to simply be incurable of his desire for Icha Icha. She had finally given up after she figured out that their… bedroom activities… were more enjoyable after he had something to reference, and new ideas. Even so, she would have preferred if her silver haired boyfriend was not so open about what they did when they were alone.

"They'll be announcing their engagement soon," Yugao whispered to Hayate, who started coughing again to try to hold back his mirth. Ceilia went bright red, but otherwise gave no indication that she heard her fellow purplette. As long as neither of them made a "Cyclops and Triclops" comment, she could ignore the ribbing.

"What in the-?" Kakashi demanded as they came to the top of a hill and got a glimpse of a lot of smoke coming from the village they were going towards.

"What do you think is going on?" Hayate asked as he reached for his katana.

"Either the Raikage finally snapped and lost his temper due to the paperwork his station has him doing," Ceilia said in mock thought, causing Yugao and Hayate to sweat drop and Kakashi to chuckle. "Or the village has been attacked."

"We had better check it out then," Yugao said and with a mutual nod between them, they hastened their pace to the village.

…..

"Let me get this straight," A said to Darui, who had given him a report just a few moments ago. A cricked his neck and took a deep breath, still trying to recover from what the blonde brat with the odd eyes had done to him, in addition to the damage his own jutsu had done to him. "This phenomenon as you called it, has revived every single person who died today?"

"Yeah, despite the mass property damage, we have yet to hear of a single casualty," Darui said.

"Well, this is ratha **strange,** I wonder who has that kind of power within their **range?" **One guess as to who said that.

"B, so help me, if you don't stop your stupid rhymes for the moment, I will give you an Iron Claw that will make all the others you have received up to now feel like a fluffy pillow!" A growled in irritation, causing B to cover his head with his hands with an expression of fear evident.

Darui laughed for a moment before he donned a serious expression. "Annoying as his manner of speech is, he does bring up a good question. Who could have revived all of the people in the village?"

"I can answer that for you," a familiar voice said, causing all three to jump and look at the blonde that had made himself known.

"YOU!" A roared as he tried to charge at Naruto, only to be held back by B. "Let me go B!" A demanded as he managed to twist enough for his left hand to find its way to the top of B's head, much to the younger man's dismay.

"Good grief, this is a **pain,** could you please hurry up and **explain?" **B asked Naruto past the pain his brother was inflicting upon him via Iron Claw.

"I ran off the guy who was attacking your village," Naruto said with a calm grin, though he was internally wincing with sympathy for B. His mother had used that same technique on him once when he let it slip that he used the Transformation Jutsu in the previous timeline for a… unique purpose that worked wonders on Jiraiya. And if A had a stronger grip than that, which was likely, considering his brute strength and practice with it, then Naruto was very glad it was not him in pain right now.

A paused before he released a rather relieved B and was released himself. He was still far from calm, but he should not be at the level of rage where he would attack first and ask questions later anymore. "Explain. Now," A said.

….

"Looks like things got wrapped up around here," Sasuke said as he and the Naruto clone checked the damage from a vantage point on top of a building.

"Yeah," Naruto's clone replied. "In that case, I should probably make some more clones to get all the people I Hiraishinned out of the village back here."

"Sure you have enough chakra for that?" Sasuke said. "You are just a clone after all, and you started this battle with a quarter of your original's reserves. And it took half of your original's chakra to get all those people out of the line of fire, so your original went to another fight with a quarter of reserves as well. Not only that, but the clones that Naruto made only had enough for one Hiraishin each before dispelling, so those trips were one way. I don't think that you will have enough chakra to bring all the people back to Suna."

"True, my reserves are at only about less than ten percent, but I will only need one clone per safe spot I put them in to bring them back, while I needed more clones to take them to said safe locations while they were scattered in a panic. Plus, I have not tapped into Kurama yet on either end, so any amount I lack would be easily given by him."

"So how many of these safe locations do you have?"

"Ten of the Snake-Teme's bases we hit two years ago, and a few spots in Konoha," Naruto said. "I took all the people who were from Konoha back there, and all the others to Orochimaru's former bases, where I left a few kunai behind while we were there."

"So you took Akari and my team back to Konoha?"

"Nah, they were taken to one of the hideouts because I wanted to bring her back here so you could explain what happened here. Plus, I felt she wasn't done enjoying her time in Suna."

"Speaking of her, were you surprised to see her use Wood Style?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"I bet you were more surprised than I was, Teme," Naruto replied.

Sasuke snorted and  
said, "Please Dobe. Any member of your family could grow a second head and I would not so much as bat an eyelash. I have learned to not let anything about you guys surprise me."

"Yeah?" Naruto asked with an evil smirk. "I bet that you will faint like an academy schoolgirl when you see the surprise I have in store for you."

"No thanks. I have no intention of encouraging another near disaster by winning a bet against you. Look what happened when Akari lost a bet to me. I am sure that this invasion is what resulted from that."

"Eh, I think that we just predict bad things when we lose bets, not make them happen, and the same when Baa-chan wins them."

Sasuke looked thoughtful about that for a moment and finally said, "Fine, I'll take the bet. A hundred ryo says I am not bothered in the slightest by whatever the hell you are going to pull. And you have the same saying that I… faint like an academy schoolgirl was it?"

"You got it," Naruto grinned as they shook on the bet. "So check this out." His eyes changed into the purple with concentric ringed form of the Rinnegan, and Sasuke froze in his tracks. "So I awakened the Rinnegan, and it has helped me kick some ass already. And you know what a real kick in the teeth is? Apparently it got activated because of my Senju blood from the Uzumaki side of my family, and that got mixed with your blood when you had to give me a transfusion over two years ago. So I really have you to thank for this."

Sasuke fainted like an academy schoolgirl.

…

"Seems that I underestimated Orochimaru," Caius said at a hideout where Raizen had been waiting for him. Derek was also there, along with the unconscious Yugito. Caius gave the two rings he held to Raizen, one of them being the ring Drakmus had left behind, and the other being the one Sasori had, and was recovered by one of Caius's Edo Tensei before he had recalled them. "I should have suspected that with all of the effort he had put into using the Edo Tensei jutsu, he would have known the seal to release it. Well, this complicates things a small amount."

"It is of no matter," Raizen said. "Orochimaru is among the more insignificant pieces on our board at the moment. While it is true that he himself is a formidable foe, he has no support at the moment. We will keep a close eye out for him for now, but do nothing until we have a better idea of how this will impact our plans. What concerns me now is the supposed betrayal of Drakmus…"

"That is true Lord Raizen," Caius said. "I am well aware that you actually had a bit of a soft spot for him, but he will now be our enemy if he chooses to fight us instead of fighting with us."

Raizen frowned behind his helmet at Caius saying that he had a soft spot for Drakmus. It was true that he and the part demon had had similar early lives, and as a result, Raizen had taken Drakmus in, though the main motivation was the use of the warrior's power. Drakmus defecting was a blow against him in more than one way.

"We will wait to see what he does and take appropriate action once he makes a move," Raizen said.

"The most concerning thing of all is that the Kyuubi brat apparently got to Pain after I had left and Zetsu dropped the jinchuriki off at this location," Derek said as he prodded Yugito's still form. "And we cannot use the Nine Phantom Dragon's Sealing Technique without a Rinnegan bearer to extract the Bijuu, and put it in the Gedo Mezo so the fact that we now have three jinchuriki only gives our enemies a reason to come after us."

"True enough, but…" Raizen said thoughtfully before he turned to Derek and said, "Tell Kabuto to release Madara. It is high time we set his piece on our board. With his Rinnegan, we will be able to seal the Bijuu with only a slight delay. It is unfortunate that Pain and Konan took their rings with them, so we are down to eight… but we should still only need a little over three days for an extraction. And since we are using a hideout that Obito had kept secret from Pain, just in case, it should be awhile before we are found."

…

"This is by far one of the most devilishly complex seals I have ever laid eyes on," Minato said as he examined a slightly reluctant Kurotsuchi's cheek where the sealing matrix was still clearly visible. She was a bit uncooperative at the time Minato brought up that he could take a look at it once she had mentioned that it took away her lava and dust style bloodlines, due to the fact that she had wanted to be at her grandfather's side as he was being treated for mental trauma of the most extreme level known. Minato was already wondering if he would have to bring Tsunade here to help, even if Iwa would take a greater blow to its pride as a result of such actions. After explaining to the girl that her presence would do Onoki no good, she had complied with his request to examine the seal.

"I can only tell a few things from it, and two of them I already guessed or knew from what you told me. What I already knew was that the seal is meant to transfer your Keekei Genkai and/or Kekkei Touta to a different user, and what I guessed is that is linked to another seal, most likely the one on the man's chest that you told me about. How many bloodlines do you think he can take?"

"The seal was in the shape of a triangle when I saw it, and each point had a circle at the end of it," Kurotsuchi told Minato at the question. "The circle over his heart held a design which I guessed represented storm style since he used that against me in our brief fight, but that design then migrated to the circle on the right side of his chest and the one that held the storm style design before had the dust style design on it after he took it from me. The bottommost circle remained empty."

"Hmm, so if he took a third bloodline, the bottommost circle would likely hold storm style then, while the circle storm style left would gain dust style and any other abilities that come with it, and the one over his heart would be filled with the new one," Minato mused. "Question is, what happens if he tries to take a fourth? Would it simply not work, or would he lose storm style and gain the new one?"

"What have you figured out from examining the seal that you didn't already know or at least guess?"

"Just three things. I will start with the least concerning of them and give you the most last. First of all, the seal needs specific conditions for it to work. What the guy needs to steal a Kekkei Genkai is skin contact with a bearer of one. That is the trigger for the stealing of the bloodline. And from what I could tell, it is involuntary and automatic once the trigger is achieved, meaning if he laid hands on a bearer of a bloodline he had yet to possess, he would end up taking said bloodline regardless of whether he wanted it or not. We may be able to use that against him later if he loses bloodlines after taking more than three by giving him a set we could handle easily.

"Second thing is that there is another function that will be triggered if he dies. What the function is, I cannot say, but I can tell that it won't be a pleasant surprise if we get the chance to find out."

"That's only the second most concerning thing?" Kurotsuchi asked skeptically. "What is the most concerning?"

"The seal design seems to be loosely similar to the Uzumaki designs, which makes me wonder about the origins," Minato said. "Whoever made this either found an old Uzumaki sealing technique and modified it, or he had been well versed in the Uzumaki style as well as a bit of his own personal style, and made this seal with it. Whatever the case is, the user is clearly on the same level of fuinjutsu as I am, if not better than me. That means there is no telling what the man or woman who made this is capable of with the art."

…

A few hours later at Kumo, after a brief explanation from Naruto and B and A getting their memories restored by Ceilia after getting the three jonin who were not aware of the time thing distracted by Kakashi pretending to perceive a threat, A had arranged a private meeting with Naruto, Ceilia and Kakashi, the only other person present being B, despite Darui's protests.

"So let me get this straight. We are currently in the past and fighting for a second chance to defeat Madara and bring peace to this world. But there are people from another dimension, the same one as the guy who helped us turn back time in the first place came from, and they are complicating things," A was saying to the three in front of him, his brother standing behind him, speechless for the first time in a while. "Have I got all that right?"

"In a nutshell, yes," Naruto replied.

A groaned and laid his head on his desk and said, "I need a drink…"

"Not to worry Bro, I'll getcha that **drink** before you have time to **blink!" **B rapped as he crashed through the wall to try to find a place that sold booze that was not destroyed when Nagato attacked.

"There was a perfectly good door there!" A's secretary, Mabui, shrieked after B from the room he had burst into.

Naruto cackled at his old friend's antics before he set seals around the area of the hole in the wall, causing a barrier to form and once again making the room private. "So with Yugito captured by the Akatsuki, we had better get to finding her," Naruto said. "They won't let the lack of Nagato's Rinnegan stop them from sealing the Bijuu for long, not if Kabuto can still summon Madara."

"That is a very good point," Kakashi said. "Any intel you can spare to help us find her on time would be helpful, and I suggest sending as many teams as you can to locate her."

"I'll get all the shinobi I can together, though I also have a responsibility to make sure the mess that your friend Nagato caused gets cleaned up," A said to Naruto, before he leaned forward. "Now let me make something clear when it comes to that guy. I don't fully trust him yet. He came to my village and killed several of my people. He revived them yes, but that was something he was practically obligated to do after being the one who offed them in the first place, and there is still mass property damage to fix, though not as bad as what he did to your village. And he also has much to answer for that he did before he even came here to be certain. He has shown to be capable of such things in the previous timeline as well. For now, I will give him the benefit of the doubt, but I will not hesitate to end him if he takes so much as a single step backwards around me."

"It won't come to that," Naruto said with conviction. "Ero-Sennin will become gay before Nagato makes the mistake of losing hope again. Ero Sennin is Jiraiya by the way," he said when A quirked an eyebrow in confusion to the nickname. A snorted at that.

"Alright, I will trust you for now," A said. "You have earned my respect before, and it is clear that you are stronger now."

Any further conversation they had was then cut off when B burst into the room through another wall with a bottle of sake in hand, completely ignoring Mabui's screeching. Naruto was about to place more seals on the crater, but A waved him aside. "Anything else we have to discuss is no longer a complete secret, as getting Yugito back is our priority. Mabui!" A shouted. The secretary was in the office immediately, entering through the door.

"There was a perfectly good hole right there," Naruto snarked, getting a chuckle out of Kakashi, B and Ceilia, a cough out of A, and a glare out of Mabui.

"Mabui, get me Masato and Itsuki immediately. I have need of them and C in the field if we are to find Yugito on time."

Mabui's eyes widened as she turned to the shinobi from Konoha. "Are you certain about that Lord Raikage?" she asked. "We'd be letting Leaf shinobi in on one of our greatest secrets if they worked with those two."

"It is fine. The secret would come out soon anyway, since I intended Itsuki to take the next chunin exams, and at this point, I don't think Konoha would do much about it, because I got some new intel that may cause an alliance between us."

Mabui reluctantly nodded and set off to get a courier to find the two shinobi A had requested. "Who are Masato and Itsuki?" Kakashi asked. "I never heard of shinobi of that name from Kumo, not even after the alliance was formed last time and we pooled our resources. Masato is vaguely familiar, but…"

"That's because due to different circumstances just under thirteen years ago in this timeline, we recruited him this time instead of killing him," A said. "He is originally from the Hyuuga clan's Branch House."

"Wait, what?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"As you know, it is no great secret that Kumo has desired the Byakugan all those years ago, but I was unwilling to do something too drastic that could cause war between our nations, so a few of my councilors took matters into their own hands, and that was what led to the incident. As for how that pertains to Masato, a few months after said incident in both timelines, some of our shinobi encountered him on the same mission. Because I still wanted the Byakugan for Kumo, my shinobi had proceeded to offer Masato the chance to join Kumo, and no longer have to kiss up to the Main House snobs, or worry about any of his children he may have getting that abomination of a seal.

"Where the timelines diverge it would seem was the fact that Hizashi survived this time. I would guess that he had rejected the offer last time due to a grudge against Kumo for the death of Hizashi, and since the mission he was on opposed ours, resulted in him dying in the resulting fight. But since it is clear that you ensured Hizashi survived this time around, he lacked that grudge and was more open to the suggestion. So he came to our village under the conditions that he would not be forced to fight against Konoha, unless they instigated a war on Kumo, nor was he to be forced into having children, though he did so anyway."

"That… makes a lot of sense," Kakashi said. "So I take it that Itsuki would then be the oldest child of Masato then?"

"You wouldn't be willing to share that drink would you?" Naruto asked, a little overloaded himself.

**"Guess this is what Felix meant when he said that even small changes can have big impacts," **Kurama said.

…

"It seems that we have much to discuss once our task is done," Madara's image said to both Obito and Raizen on one of the fingertips of the Gedo Mezo. Raizen and Zetsu were the solid people there, and Obito was the person other than Madara who received one of the two rings. The other four members of the Akatsuki who bore rings, Kabuto, Kisame, Hidan and Zurui were there in holographic form.

Derek had had little trouble releasing the hastily applied seals that Minato had placed on the bottle he had sealed Madara in. The seals were high grade to be sure, but done on so little chakra that the challenge was removed.

"But for now, we should begin the task of sealing the Bijuu within the jinchuriki," Madara said as he started the Nine Phantom Dragons Sealing Jutsu, and began to extract the Nibi from Yugito.

**A/N: More Reviews to answer!**

**Uzumaki Clan Leader:**

**Well, I certainly did not expect that ending to Lee's fight with Caius. Same with Orochimaru and Hikaru. I would've thought that a Kage would remember the abilities of the man who killed him, but I degress. The god tree communicating with Caius is a twist, but good nonetheless. Keep up the good work! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**To be fair, Hikaru was killed rather quickly by Orochimaru's surprise attack, so he did not see much of what Orochimaru could do. **

**Titokhan:**

**sorry the review is late, been busy on the road of life.**

**undead, limitless chakra Oro.. hmm, the possibilities.**

**Naruto has his own version of Itachi's Susano'o sealing sword, nice.**

**second verse, nearly same as the first in the Chiyo/Sakura/added Kankuro vs Sasori fight. and Kankuro gets Sasori's puppet body again.**

**all in all, great stuff **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I am a bit used to hearing your input sooner, but better late than never, and I was a little late with this myself.**

**Guest:**

**rasEnshur1Ken-sama, I'm happy for the new chapter but also sad about Shikamaru in the latest chapter. also this has bugged me for some time and was wondering if you can give some insight. is there any relation between the Bijuu and the summoning contracts during there creation (ex. Rokubi and Katsuya). Oh, and thank you for considering my idea for using the tea kettle and I hope that you can use it for some of the other bijuu. Keep it up, U can do it.**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**That's you right SkyRune? Not sure what you mean on the summoning contracts, but I am sure that each Bijuu has its own and is not summoned by a user of the species they appear as. And I will not be using the sealing container idea for any other Bijuu, sorry.**

**cook563:**

**good chapters, can't wait to see what you have planned for the upcoming chapters. keep up the great work and i hope you update soon. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Sorry again for the later than usual update.**

**Arniecar145:**

**That move came from Renji in Bleach. Against the 8th Espada. If I'm wrong may the Shinigami smite me lol **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**OK then… REAPER DEATH SEAL! Just kidding, you are right.**

**Qwertyboy123:**

**Loved the ch and I'm nearly finised with that drawing of felix I don't think I got the hair right but I tried my best Im also thinking about him with a yamato style hair**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**That should work, and thanks for being the only one to volunteer to draw a character so far.**

**akatsukicolin:**

**Only Sasori died in the invasion? and orochimaru randomly releasing the contract seal just to troll everyone. Anywayy, keep up the good work! **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Well, it isn't that random. After all, Edo Tensei is one of Orochimaru's specialties, so it is not that much of a stretch to assume that he would know the counterseal.**

**zigmas:**

**Except for me nearly drowning in all those OCs - great story indeed.**

**Keep it up. :) **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**I hope the OCs are good enough to make up for the fact I have so many.**

**Falcoknights:**

**keep up the good work... great chapter and end to the battle of suna. I liked the pup fight though poor Kankuro. also i really like naruto's sword. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Kankuro will recover, and take a leaf out of Chiyo's book when it comes to the arm thing, so you don't have to worry too much about him there. I like Naruto's sword too, one of my better ideas.**

**Mellra:**

**Ever since I've heard about the Shinju's story, I can't help but compair it to the 'Tree of Might' from the Dragonball Z movie of the same name. Both are eeriely similar. Anyway, great work on this chapter and good job on making all of the characters more hard-core! Can't wait to see more of your awsomeness!**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Now that you mention it, while I did not see the movie, what I heard is pretty similar to the Shinju.**

**So I bet no one was expecting me to give the Byakugan to Kumo eh? I just wanted to be sure that one of Naruto's earlier changes to the timeline would have a big impact, despite the seemingly harmless action. Screwing around with time can be unpredictable, and I wanted to get that point across. **

**Yes, Yugito will be alive in future chapters, but I won't spoil anything else just yet. Madara and the Akatsuki will at least extract a good portion of Matatabi's chakra, because I DO intend for the Juubi to make an appearance.**

**I would also like to hear if there are any more takers on the art of my OCs… Anyone?**

**Please Read and Review!**


	73. Chapter 72: Locating Yugito

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story. **

**A/N: This is probably sooner than you expected, but here is the next chapter for you guys! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 72: Locating Yugito**

"I really hate you so much right now Naruto," Sasuke said as the original, who had returned to Suna a few minutes earlier, gave Akari the camera that the clone had used to take pictures of Sasuke unconscious and foaming at the mouth as an apology for taking her away from the battle. The clone had made a single Shadow Clone for each hideout he had taken the spectators to, and had each one go to the designated place, where the clones then linked hands with everyone there and Hiraishinned them back to the Sand Village. There were lot of people disgruntled about the interruption to their day and being brought to such bad looking areas, but nothing too serious.

Akari gleefully checked out the blackmail material she now had against her teacher and said, "All is forgiven, Big Brother."

"The Rinnegan eh?" Itachi said with a rather amazed look on his face while Kushina was chuckling with pride on what her son had accomplished. Everyone in Suna who was aware of the time travel thing was present in the building, with the exception of Gaara and his father, who were busy making sure order was restored in the village, and Zabuza and Haku, who were busy checking to be sure no enemies had stuck around.

"We can catch up and discuss new developments later," Naruto said. "Hinata, can you heal me as much as you can? I am a little lower on chakra than I would like, and I don't want any of my clones to draw on Kurama too much until I actually have to fight. And I need to make some clones right now."

"W-What?" Hinata asked in confusion.

"The Akatsuki managed to capture Yugito, the jinchuriki of the Nibi, and I have to find her before they are able to extract the Nibi from her," Naruto said simply. "I have a map of all the hideouts Nagato knew the Akatsuki were using here. There are nine in total, and two are close enough to Kumo for them to get to there in time even if they started the extraction immediately. The rest are close enough to points that I can have clones Hiraishin to and go to the hideouts from there, the latest hideout being found about two days from now."

Hinata nodded as her hands glowed and she put them on Naruto's shoulders. "Are you going to go in without backup?" Sasuke asked Naruto as the blonde sighed with relief, his dull aches fading a little.

"Not if you guys accompany me," Naruto said with a smirk.

"That sounds reasonable," Itachi mused. "Sasuke, Hinata and I will come along to help you. It will be our team back together. We did not have that many missions before the chunin exams two years ago, did we?"

"And what about me?" Kushina and Akari said at the same time.

"Kushina, you can take Sasuke's team, including Akari back to Konoha," Itachi said. When it looked like they were both going to argue, Itachi held a hand up and said, "You need to get Akari back to Konoha, and the rest of her team. And Akari, my decision that you won't come on this mission is final as well. You are too much of a target for the Akatsuki to potentially manipulate Naruto with, and you are still a genin, even if you are almost guaranteed a promotion after the exams. Once you are a chunin, I will have to let you participate more in this kind of thing."

Akari grumbled but then said, "Fine, Hokage-Sama."

"I likely won't have that title anymore by the time we get back to Konoha," Itachi chuckled. "If your father has finished his training and returns to the village, then I will give the hat right back to him."

"Right then, it's time to start searching for Yugito," Naruto said, forming the seal. Twenty one clones formed, three for each of the hideouts Naruto intended to have checked out. They flashed away.

…

"Alright then," A said as he looked at the teams he had gathered. Two of the eight shinobi he had gathered were masked ANBU, one of which would be joining the team led by Darui, and had Masato and the eleven year old Mitsuki on it. The other team would be led by C, who also had Samui and J, and would be getting the other ANBU to assist them.

"Here are the locations I need you guys to find for me," A told the teams, giving each of them a scroll. "The Akatsuki have captured Yugito, and I intend to get her back before they can extract the Nibi from her. Both of your teams will be going to a separate location, Darui's team going to the base that is a few miles further from Kumo because his team is a little faster."

"Are you certain that we are a match for the Akatsuki Raikage-Sama?" Darui asked. "I am sorry to question your orders, but we may well have a tough fight on our hands."

"That's why I am taking another measure," A said. "Those mission scrolls I gave you are not just to tell you where to go. There is a blank part of the scroll that you can write in that will show up on a counterpart scroll I have, so you can request my aid."

"But how will you get to the location on time if we do end up fighting?" J asked.

"Mabui's Ethereal Transmission Jutsu."

"Are you crazy Lord Raikage!?" C demanded. "That jutsu could very well kill you!"

"It did not kill my father, and that was due to the toughness of his body," A replied. "My body should be tough enough to take almost no injury, considering he went through without so much as a scratch. After all, with the endless training I have done over the past two years when the Yellow Flash sent me that warning, I should be close to that level by now."

"Just trust the Raikage," Darui said as C looked like he was going to argue further. "It would be way too drab for a guy of his level to die from some transportation jutsu of all things. At any rate, we better get going. We've wasted enough time as it is."

"One more thing," A said. "Both of your teams will be accompanied by two Konoha shinobi each. They are also enemies of the Akatsuki, so they should cooperate with us. All the same, keep a close eye on them."

"Yes sir," C said.

…

About a day after the search had begun, three Naruto clones found a cave that was marked on Nagato's map. After a few minutes of reaching inside with Sage Mode senses, the lead one cursed. "Empty! Darn it!"

After a few minutes of poking around the base to be sure they were not missing anything, the clones dispelled to let the original know that the first Akatsuki hideout was a bust. As were the second and third ones a few hours later.

…

"No luck with this one," C said as his team exited the base they had just raided. "Hopefully Darui will get to his and find the enemy and Yugito."

"Ceilia, can you open a Dimension Door there?" Kakashi asked Ceilia in an undertone.

"Unfortunately, the jutsu is not a very accurate one," Ceilia said. "It works best if you were using it to go to a place that you have been to before, or if there is a strong enough chakra signature for you to home in on. That's why Felix was able to come out in this dimension exactly where he wanted to, because he was using Sage Chakra to enhance his sensory skills, and he was following the Juubi's chakra. But because the enemy seems to be masking their chakra signatures to a point where you would have to get close to sense them, a Dimension Door would be more likely to land us on the other end of the Elemental Nations, and I have not been anywhere closer to the place we need to get to than we are here."

"And here I thought it was an ideal jutsu for traveling," Kakashi said with a low sigh.

"It is, but like I said, you have to have the ability to accurately navigate based on either familiarity with territory or dimensions you are traveling to, or be following something guiding you, or it is less ideal."

…..

Back in Suna, Hikaru sat at his desk, trying to set the piles of paperwork ablaze with just his glare. Gaara stood on the other side, and said, "You asked to see me Kazekage-Sama?" While in the office, Gaara knew better than to simply address the man as his father.

"Gaara, I am going to retire as Kazekage by the end of the month," Hikaru said.

"What? Why?"

"Because I am rather tired of the job for one thing, and even with my Gold Clones, the paperwork has gotten to me again," the older man replied. "Secondly, I am no longer one hundred percent certain that I am suited for the job."

"What brought this on?"

"Simply put, the fact that you really have long surpassed me. The only reason I did not make you Kazekage sooner than today was because you still had to deal with the mistrust of the villagers, but ever since you have begun using that Sand Radar of yours to help the economy of the village, there has been more support for you.

"What really proved that you were meant to be my successor though was the fact that you were able to defeat a former Kazekage of our village, and it is thanks to you that the Sandaime was sealed. Me, well, I would have likely been skewered by Orochimaru without your aid. Besides, last time, I gave you nothing but misery and pain, something I have strived to make up for over the past few years. After giving you nothing but a broken heart last time, I am glad to at least be alive this time to give you the title of Kazekage, something you more than deserve. Sunagakure will be in fine hands once the hat is on your head again."

"Father…" Gaara said, so overwhelmed he forgot to be formal. Then for some reason, he smirked as a thought crossed his mind.

…

Naruto, who was busy trying to look over the map and figure out likely places Obito could have set up shop without Nagato's knowledge, just in case they did not find Yugito anywhere Nagato marked, suddenly gave a violent sneeze. "Funny. Why was I just thinking, zero for two?" He shook his head of such silly thoughts and got back to his task.

….

Kankuro was released from the hospital after the worst of his injuries had been given treatment by Chiyo and Sakura, and the poison had been purged from his system. His stump of a left arm was currently wrapped in bandages. Neither Chiyo nor Sakura could reattach the severed limb, due to Sasori's poison having damaged the nerves at the point of the cut. Reattaching lost limbs was a difficult business at the best of times, and Sakura, while a better medic than Chiyo in some respects had simply not yet advanced far enough in that field, and Chiyo was unable to work around the damage the poison caused.

"Kankuro, are you alright?" Temari asked as the middle child of the Sand Siblings reentered their home.

"Yeah, I will live," Kankuro said as he sat on a chair. Only to yelp as it was yanked out from underneath him by some chakra strings that came from Chiyo.

"Now what do you think you are doing?" the old lady chuckled. "Now that you are out of the hospital again, I would have thought you would be eager to get back to your training."

"What's the use?" Kankuro grumbled as he got back up. "My maximum potential efficiency as a puppet master has been cut in half, I'm down an arm, remember?"

"Now, now, Kankuro, that is no excuse, as you should have seen during our fight with my grandson," Chiyo said as she detached her right puppet arm, causing Temari to comically shriek and jump back. Sure, the kunoichi had killed several times in battle before, but seeing someone's arm just fall off in front of her with no seeming cause and no adrenaline in her system to sharpen and refine her senses was totally new to her.

"As you should already know, I lost an arm myself at some point, but as you can see, there are ways around that problem for a puppet master," Chiyo continued as she reattached the artificial limb. "And here is your temporary new limb." She unrolled a scroll and unsealed a puppet arm that she tossed to Kankuro. "Due to this incident, the next stage of your training will be teaching you how to manipulate your new limb, and later, your puppets through it. And before you ask, no, there are no fancy weapons or tools built into it. That arm is simply for the purpose of your training. After learning to use the arm as if it was your own natural one, it will be up to you to design one for combat purposes. That will ensure that you are intimately familiar with the final product you make, and have a few surprises for any enemies you have."

"Right," Kankuro said. "By the way, how am I supposed to attach this thing?"

Chiyo chuckled and said, "Well, while you were under the anesthetics, once I realized that reattaching the arm Sasori severed was beyond me, though that Sakura girl was able to cure the poisoning in your body before it did too much else to you, I took the liberty of building the parts that the new arm attaches to into what remained of your actual arm. You haven't noticed because of the bandages, and the light materials I used."

"If I didn't know better Granny Chiyo, I would say you planned for me to lose my arms at some point," Kankuro grimaced as he unwrapped the bandages.

"What can I say? A good shinobi tries to prepare for anything," Chiyo replied.

….

"Hey, any luck yet?" Minato asked Jiraiya.

"No not yet," the sage replied. "None of the toads I sent on the trail of that snake boy are getting any results. He's probably even better than my old teammate at covering his tracks, I'll give him that." He turned to Minato, who he noticed had the comatose Onoki over his shoulder. "Hey, what are you doing with the Tsuchikage?"

"Well, I am going to take him to Konoha to get treatment from Tsunade," Minato said.

"Really, do you have permission from the village council?"

"No, though I tried. Apparently, they are taking advantage of the fact that Onoki here is in no condition to lead the village, and that his son Kisuchi is out on a mission since before the Akatsuki attacked, and they are trying to cement their own positions of power while they can. So while this may cause a bit of political shit for us, the sooner Onoki is back up, the less damage the idiots here can cause, and the more of his own authority he will be able to save. I think he will appreciate that and help keep the peace between our villages for it."

"Even so, I'd be willing to bet that you are planning on letting Itachi deal with it before you take the hat back from him, aren't you?" Jiraiya deadpanned.

The devious grin on Minato's face was answer enough.

…..

A growled as he read both Darui's and C's counterpart scrolls and learned that the hideouts they had checked had been empty. He sighed as Naruto Hiraishinned into his office about ten minutes late rot ask for news. Hopefully the boy's part of the search would turn out better results.

…

"Konan, let us stop here for a moment. You need to rest after supporting me for so long," Nagato told his friend, who nodded and set him against a tree before she sat as well. Nagato gave his legs a brief test, and thought on how best to compensate until he got his muscle memory back, but then, that was not all that high on the priority list at the moment, since that would just take time and trying to move around as normally as possible.

Nagato sighed. He was currently thinking hard on how best to deal with the Akatsuki now that he was against them. The trouble was, he was still uncertain of several of the variables in play here. For one thing, Raizen was now likely a bigger threat than even Madara, and whatever he wanted the Juubi for, it could be nothing good. The Gedo Mezo was powerful enough as it was, without any of the chakra from the Bijuu, but after chakra from each Bijuu was sealed into it, it would be virtually unstoppable…

Nagato's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead, and said, "I am an idiot…"

"Something on your mind Nagato?" Konan asked.

"Yes, I just thought of a way to throw a wrench into our former friend's plans," Nagato said with a grin. "All I have to do is summon the Gedo Mezo and keep the Akatsuki from using it to seal the Bijuu." Excitedly, he cast a few seals and slammed his palm on the ground. In a burst of smoke… nothing happened.

Konan and Nagato sweat dropped and the former said, "Any other bright ideas? Clearly the moron who cosplays as Madara thought you might pull such a stunt and took measures against it. Likely some kind of seal that keeps your chakra signature from summoning the statue. It was worth a try though, no doubt about that."

Nagato hung his head and said, "All the same, I got nothing but a sense of where… the… Shit!"

"What is it now?" Konan demanded.

"I had a brief moment where I could vaguely make out the general area the Gedo Mezo was when I tried to summon it, but it is not anywhere I marked on the map I gave Naruto!" Nagato said, causing Konan to pale. "I have to let Naruto know about this right away!" He quickly summoned his Drill Beaked Bird underneath him, and it gave a few flaps, causing it to rise about ten feet. For some reason, Konan developed a tick mark then.

"And why didn't you summon the bird when we were still heading for Ame, and save me the trouble of CARRYING YOU FOR THE PAST DAY AND A HALF!?"

Nagato paled and said, "Er… because I simply didn't think of it until I was suddenly in a hurry? …Please don't kill me…"Nagato could have sworn a demon materialized behind Konan, and the redhead thought, _"Why did it have to be that time of the month now!?"_

The PMSing woman was muttering several things under her breath, though Nagato was clearly able to catch the words, "… just you wait…," and "Six billion exploding tags, hehehe…"

Nagato sweat dropped and quickly flew off in fear for his life.

….

"Damn, none of the hideouts have any trace of Yugito, and it has already been just over two and a half days," Naruto growled as the last of his seeking clones was dispelled upon reaching a hideout and finding it empty. Sasuke, Itachi and Hinata looked concerned as the blonde hung his head. "And I already flashed to Kumo, so old man Raikage told me already that his teams came up empty as well. Looks like they thought ahead and made sure they had a few places that Nagato was not aware of to seal the Bijuu. Now what?"

"I have no idea how we would find Yugito at this point to be honest," Sasuke replied. "Looks like she is sunk unless a miracle occurs, and I don't think even Dobe's luck is on the level we need to get one here."

"Wait, what's that?" Hinata asked as she turned on her Byakugan and saw Nagato's Drill Beaked Bird coming for them, with said Uzumaki on its back.

"You may have just jinxed us for the better Teme," Naruto said.

"Assuming Nagato has a solution for our conundrum," Itachi said as the bird landed, and Nagato slid off, his legs encased in some kind of metal supports made from his Asura Path no doubt. He walked over to them.

"Nagato, what are you doing here in Suna?" Naruto asked. "And how did you get in unnoticed?"

"I came in through the area a certain friend of yours that controls sand guarded and convinced him that I was here on benevolent purposes," Nagato said. "At any rate, I came to tell you that I know where at least one of the jinchuriki is. I tried to summon the Gedo Mezo to keep the enemy from using it, but some force stopped me, likely a specialized Contract Seal that keeps me in particular from summoning the statue. But I was still able to get a read on its position during the failed summoning attempts, and I know that it is currently in the process of having a Bijuu sealed into it."

"Whoo, Naruto-Sama, you do have a lot of good luck at times!" Zenko said, causing Naruto to smile.

"So where is the hideout that was kept secret even from you?" Naruto inquired.

"Here," Nagato said as he pointed to a spot on the map that was fairly close to a hideout Naruto had hidden a kunai.

"Perfect, I can get there in a few hours at most, less if I use Kurama's chakra!" Naruto said as he got to his feet with a grin. "Thank you so much for having downright amazing timing Nagato!" With that, he flashed away.

"Looks like we have a few hours before he sends a clone or two to get us there to help him," Sasuke said.

"Will you be joining us, Nagato?" Itachi asked.

"Of course," Nagato said. "It is my fault that the Nibi has been captured after all. I have only partially made amends for what happened in Kumo to be honest."

"Guess all we can do is wait then," Sasuke said, and Hinata nodded.

…

"How much longer do you think this will take?" the image of Kisame asked.

"No more than four hours I would estimate," Kabuto replied. "We already have most of the Nibi's chakra, and its mind is starting to get absorbed as well. So far, it seems that we have remained undetected, so we should be able to finish the process uninterrupted."

One of Zetsu's clones appeared. "Urgent news. The Namikaze brat is heading this way, and will be here in less than two hours at the rate he is coming."

"You and your big mouth, you ass!" Hidan shouted at Kabuto.

"At least his big mouth is not as foul as yours, Hidan," Zurui said in amusement.

"Enough," Madara said. "Do we have any means of stalling the interruption?"

Raizen cleared his throat before he stated, "Yes as a matter of fact, I think we do. If Zetsu would be so kind as to retrieve Derek for us, he has a few means of delaying the boy, and he might just help us capture him as well."

"Indeed?" Madara asked before he nodded. "Very well then, make sure he is retrieved."

…

After just under a couple hours of running, Naruto heard a rumble in his mind. **"Naruto, I can sense Matatabi's mind now, but it is growing weaker by the second. Hurry!" **Kurama shouted within his host's mind.

**"Kura…ma? Is that… you?" **Matatabi said weakly in the telepathic link Kurama had been able to establish. **"Please… hurry, or… Yuigito won't make it… even if… you stop me from being… fully absorbed…"**

**"Hurry it up Naruto!" **Kurama shouted in the blonde's mindscape, and Naruto hastily made a Shadow Clone, and it flashed to the locations of Sasuke, Hinata, Itachi and Nagato. Felix was also there and waiting having decided he would fight with them as well.

"Come on, we have to go get Yugito, she is almost fully gone from what they are doing to her!" Naruto's clone shouted as the group grabbed him and he flashed straight back to the original.

"We are less than a mile away now!" the original said to his five helpers as they rushed in line behind him, Nagato falling behind slightly despite the Asura Path supports on his still recovering legs.

Before they could get more than a third of the remainder of the way there, they encountered Derek, who was sitting in a clearing in their path, and surrounded by what looked like over a hundred storage seals on the ground. They froze and Naruto growled, "Move. Now."

"As if I would just because you asked rather rudely," Derek said as he got up and snapped his fingers. A plume of smoke appeared over each of the storage seals and from each one, a humanoid machine with some kind of Animation Seals over parts of its body, and a few other special seals. They all had a range of weapons, from war hammers, to battle axes, to bows, to claymores, to twin swords, ect. Each one had a build that represented the best body type for the weapons they carried. "But why don't you try your hand against my Automatons first? I assure you, they are higher quality than what that grave robber Caius is capable of, even if I don't have as many of these as he does corpses."

"Looks like we have to fight our way through," Sasuke said as he drew his swords, and Naruto gave a grim nod as Hinata put an arrow to her bowstring, a determined expression on her face. Felix drew Elemental Infinity with a serious expression.

"Here they come," Itachi said as the first wave charged.

**A/N: To answer your Reviews…**

**Qwertyboy123:**

**WoW I never expected that hyuuga to be there but I suppose it does make sense kumo does want the byakugan but I wonder will they transplant it after he dies or something**

**And is this goin to be one of those fanfics where naruto get multiple kekkei genkai **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**If you are asking about the Uzumaki seal that Zurui used, then no, Naruto will not use it. The reason will be explained later, but that seal has a serious cost that makes it morally bankrupt.**

**cook563:**

**Well that was definitely an interesting chapter. i wonder what the hyuuga clan will do once they find out one of their own is in Kumo? and i wonder what said hyuuga will do once he finds out that the clan has become more... lenient. keep up the great work and i'm looking forward to the next chapter. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**That could complicate things a little. It could potentially get in the way of the shinobi alliance.**

**falcoknights:**

**keep up the good work... A Lot of good to know info in this chapter i like it. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Bet you were caught off guard by the fact Kumo has the Byakugan now.**

**Titokhan:**

**Lesson one Raizen.. Never underestimate one of the Sannin. I can easily see Oro at the very least working with Kohona for a while (the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all).**

**so the seal used to steal bloodlines is, at the very least, based off an Uzumaki designed one? Given their abilities with seals, I cant say it surprises me much. One question I do have is how did it take away both bloodlines? unless one begets the other of course, which seems to be the case. **

**Kumo getting a Hyuuga defector that would have otherwise died on the same mission in the original timeline is a nice twist. but then again, Hayate and Yugao getting married and having a kid is another from him actually not dying in the time before the first chuunin finals. I wouldnt let either of them near the Hyuuga council though, at least until they get rid of the caged bird..**

**Bee seems to have taken up Ay's habit of ignoring doors and windows. heh **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**It may be a while before Orochimaru decides to aid the shinobi alliance. He will likely try to figure out how to go about things first. **

**zigmas:**

**A totally off-topic comment:**

**If only YAWALEH updated at YOUR rate... :(((**

**But you can guess that I enjoy both of you equally. :))) **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Who's that? What story does he/she write?**

**akatsukicolin:**

**Is there going to be a showdown with Raizan soon? Cause the fight he had with Utakata was wayy too short. meh, this chapter was good, and when you say free Madara, do you mean free him from the contract seal or from the bottle? **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**It's coming very soon. The three on one fight with Felix, Jiraiya and Itachi vs Raizen will come as promised, right after the current arc with trying to rescue the jinchuriki. And Madara was freed from the bottle by Derek, and he will free himself from Kabuto later.**

**SkyRune:**

**Hey rasEnshur1Ken-sama, I am so glad you could update. I thought of something that you could use in later chapters if it could help. you can throw this idea away but I think it is interesting. what would you think if Shinju mistook Hinata for Princess Kaguya? its just one idea and you may have already thought you could use and if not, i'll think of something else. I wanna see this story reach a million word count. that's my hope for you, I know U can do it. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Now that idea is rather interesting… Of course, Hinata has already encountered Caius, who has a fragment of the Shinju's mind in his own, so that ship has sailed… but perhaps the Shinju could mention in an angry tone that Hinata reminds it of her, and the near mindless Juubi body could actually make that mistake. It has possibilities. **

**As for the hope you have for this story, 0_0! A million words!? I would have to have an average of 5000 words a chapter, and at least 200 chapters for that! Still… (gets stars in eyes) That is a possibility that is far too tempting to ignore. I will see just how far I can get along that goal without making my update rate or story suffer for it.**

**Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros:**

**I have to say, I love your story! This was a wonderful chapter and even though it was from a villain's stand point it showcased the awesomeness of seals. **

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Your opinion of the seal may drastically lower once more light is shed on it.**

**Vallavarayan:**

**hope none of the spectators are hurt by orochimaru if he returns to one of his bases...**

**rasEnshur1Ken:**

**Naruto got them out of there in time to avoid that.**

**So, next chapter, we will have a huge shit fest with Naruto's group against the machines of Derek's. And that is not the man's only trump card… Let's just say that he will ultimately switch to quality when he learns that quantity won't work. And Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke will work together to form a jutsu that Naruto currently can't do alone by the end of it. Who cares to guess what jutsu I have in mind?**

**Also, as I have told akatsukicolin, a fight between Felix, Jiraiya and Itachi vs Raizen is coming. However, there will likely be a downside, as I am giving thought to having one of Raizen's three opponents killed off during that battle. If I decide to go through with that, who should I pull the trigger on? This is not a poll, just something you can give me your opinions on in reviews or pms. The final decision is mine alone.**

**Read and Review so the next chapter comes faster!**


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